Campus Huddle: Welcome to College Football 26
Hey College Football fans, welcome back to the Campus Huddle, your home for news on EA SPORTS™ College Football 26! Before we get started, the entire team wants to start off by saying thank you. Thank you to everyone who enjoyed College Football 25 and turned it into a cultural experience felt around the world (we looked at all of your PTO excuse forms…). Today, we have a brief overview of the coming game modes, presentation features, gameplay updates, and more. Look for more information to be revealed this summer in our Campus Huddle deep dives as we move toward a worldwide launch on July 10th. Now, let's get started with our reveal trailer! We’re excited just thinking about what’s to come later this summer! In EA SPORTS™ College Football 26, the playbook will be in your hands. Take your career starting from being an aspiring high school recruit to winning the Heisman Award, or coach your team to the College Football Playoff National Championship. With new plays, schools, players and upgraded abilities, there are more ways than ever to Bring Glory Home. True College Football Gameplay Our vision for what it means to experience college football continues to be our wide open, fast paced gameplay that’s anchored by a swath of foundational football features like stunts and twists, custom zones, and improved blocking and coverage logic. Utilize Dynamic Substitutions for easier fatigue management on the field, with additional upgrades coming to the Wear and Tear system. We’ve overhauled Archetypes to encompass the unique skill sets you see every Saturday. With over 2,800 new plays and unique schemes like Rice's Modern Option and Penn State's Gadget Heavy, thousands of players and over 300 real-world coaches with true-to-life schemes, this is our most authentic college football experience yet. Stay tuned for our Gameplay Deep Dive to learn more. Over 300 Real World Coaches Suit up for Dan Lanning. Compete against Kirby Smart. Recruit as or against James Franklin. Go toe-to-toe with current coaches who bring distinctive playstyles to the field. Strategize like they would with their unique playbooks for a more authentic coaching experience. Wear & Tear Everywhere The advanced Wear & Tear system delivers more realism and is now fully customizable to fit your play style. Manage fatigue strategically and save your favorite playmakers for key moments with Dynamic Substitutions that allow you to rotate players in and out on the fly, no pause screen needed. Foundational Football Advancements College Football 26 Foundational Football gameplay starts with improved coverage to give you confidence in shutting down your opponent and improved blocking to reward players left-stick skills between the tackles. Feel the changes to our upgraded Physics Based Tackling System with new tackle types and enhancements to the hit stick. Experience greater control on both sides of the ball with the ability to call different stunts and twists to optimize your pass rush, a new Custom Zones feature to really dial-in your coverage at the line of scrimmage, and several new abilities that we can't wait to talk about more in our Gameplay Deep Dive later this summer! Home Field Advantage 2.0 Experience enhanced Stadium Pulse effects, including a more intense camera shake, new heads-up display visuals, and clock distortion that simulates the high pressure of playing as a visitor in hostile territory. Rivalry games, the College Football Playoff, and other high-stakes matchups are now even more affected by Stadium Pulse. When you're on the road, use your Confidence & Composure to help counteract the rattling environment. More Like Saturday We want you to immerse yourself in unforgettable game day atmospheres with more electrifying sights, sounds, and traditions than ever before. Feel the energy of new situations and stadium-specific music, fight songs, and dynamic commentary. Experience a new presentation that reflects the importance of each game in the context of your season. Saddle up in Stillwater, hoist The Golden Egg, and raise the sword as the King of Turnovers at Coastal Carolina. We want to surround you with authentic, unrivaled school spirit so you always feel right at home. Next Level Gameday Feel the stadium shake as you discover more of your school’s unique pageantry, traditions and sounds. With new PA tracks, including Metallica’s “Enter Sandman”, 160 new school-specific chants, new mascots, and band music. We know how much people loved drumlines from the menu last year… we are going to change it up for College Football 26. We’re bringing new Marching Band covers of popular songs to our menus for players to enjoy. As well as Fight Songs from schools around the country. Learn more about this in our Presentation Deep Dive Campus Huddle Article coming later this summer! Broadcast & Commentary Experience new and dynamic commentary tailored by Kirk Herbstreit, Chris Fowler, Jesse Palmer, David Pollack, Desmond Howard, and Rece Davis as you make history on the field. Battling back after a tough loss? Back-to-back 400-yard performances? Their expertise and insight adapt to your team’s progress in Dynasty and your player’s rise in Road to Glory. Show off Your Championship We heard your feedback and thanks to you, Trophy Room is back! Now is your chance to show off to your friends… and rivals, how successful you really are. There will be multiple ways for you to earn different kinds of Trophies: Coach and manage your program in Dynasty. Focus on your journey as a college football legend in Road to Glory Dominate online in the Road to the College Football Playoffs Compete in classic rivalry games in Play Now. Game Modes Dynasty How you create your Dynasty will now be more important than ever if you want to cement your legacy as one of the best coaches. Assemble an elite staff, upgrade your coaching abilities and then lay it all out on the field. Navigate the now expanded and more unpredictable transfer portal featuring thousands of players each year. Personnel management has never been more important, with new location-based visits having the potential to give your program an advantage in recruiting. Land critical talent for your team by managing new Dynamic Deal Breakers and Traits while trying to retain your favorite playmakers and cement your program’s legacy. Cross-Play is here! College Football 26 Online Dynasty now supports Cross-Play across Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5. You will now be able to run a 32 person Online Dynasty with friends regardless of platform. Within the Members tab, you’ll be able to see each user's system. To use cross-play, you’ll need an internet connection, the latest game updates, a valid EA Account, and a platform account on your chosen platform. Cross-play is enabled by default in Online Dynasties but can be turned off at any time by the Commissioner in League Settings. For more info, check out the [Cross-Play FAQ for full details]. One last note before we see you at the Dynasty Deep Dive…. We’re happy to announce that Formation Subs and a Protected Opponents setting are coming! Road To Glory It’s time for you to begin your ultimate student-athlete journey as part of the Recruiting Class of 2025. Choose from 10 new archetypes and rise from high school recruit to Heisman glory, with every decision shaping how your career will look. Build your highlight tape to earn an offer from your dream school and make that decision in the famous Hat Ceremony. Rise in class rankings and secure scholarships before other recruits. Along with a new tier of abilities available to reach for your athlete, earn Coach Trust, build team chemistry, and navigate the competitive recruiting process. Commit early if you've found the perfect fit for you or decommit if a better opportunity comes your way. Your journey to become a superstar in Madden NFL 26 is yours to define, because as soon as you’re ready, your Road To Glory student-athlete can begin their journey to Madden NFL 26 Superstar mode. Show off your skill, then show up for the big night and see which NFL team calls your name. College Football Ultimate Team Build your dream roster with Legends from the past and current college stars. Lead your Ultimate Team to greatness by taking on the competition in H2H matchups and themed challenges meant to put your skills to the test. Road To The College Football Playoff Be the team to beat in the College Football Playoff and make the most of your Home Field Advantage. Climb the ranks, take down opponents online, and dominate in a new progression system. Fill your personal Trophy Room with gold and capture the National Championship to bring glory to your school. Team Builder Don't worry CFB 25 fans, you'll be able to import your custom teams from last year seamlessly, ensuring your favorite created teams can be brought over. With new features in Team Builder, you can refine your team’s details and explore enhanced roster editing options, allowing for greater control over your identity and legacy. Stay tuned for the Dynasty Deep Dive to learn more about these features and how they’ll elevate your gaming experience! *Team Builder content can be used in offline Play Now and private Dynasty modes. Internet connection & EA account required. Applicable platform account may be required. Age restrictions may apply. We can’t wait to tell you more about your journey in EA SPORTS™ College Football 26, stay tuned for future Campus Huddle Deep Dives about gameplay, your favorite modes, and features later this summer. -- EA SPORTS™ College Football 26 Team College Football 26 launches worldwide on July 10, 2025. Pre-order the Deluxe Edition** or the EA SPORTS™ MVP Bundle† and play 3 days early. Conditions and restrictions apply. See disclaimers for details. Stay in the conversation by following us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and EA Forums. [Source]College Football 26 - Title Update October 2nd
Hey there College Football Fans, welcome back to the Campus Huddle! Your source for updates straight from the development team! In this Title Update, we are excited to introduce a new feature coming to Ultimate Team, new Gameplay changes, new uniforms and more! Let’s connect with Eric Rayweather once again to give you a rundown of what is coming in tomorrow's Title Update! College Ultimate Team - NEW Head to Head Ranked We’ve heard you. Many of you have been saying that Ultimate Team was missing that sense of competition that felt rewarding. Because of your feedback we’re excited to bring you Head to Head Ranked. This is a mode built around competition and growth, where each game pushes you closer to your next milestone. Win or lose, every match matters, and every step forward feels earned. Let’s get started on how you can begin your journey and take on the competition! How It Works There will be 7 Ranks which you can place depending on how you perform. Each Rank is divided into 3 Tiers. Every player will start out as unranked and after 5 placement games, you will receive your starting rank which could be one of the following: Bronze Silver Gold Elite Hero Champ Top 100 Rank up by earning enough points in the mode to progress to the next tier. How many points you earn will depend on your win/loss rating and the rank of your opponent Players can also be demoted if their point total falls below the range of your current tier. Ranked Seasons will reset on the first of every month Now that you know how to participate and where you could be placed in the rankings, let’s talk about what you will earn for your victories! Rewards Players will earn rewards in multiple ways; by winning games, ranking up, and your placement rewards at the end of the ranked season. Let’s give you the full breakdown of what you can receive! End of game rewards: 5,000 coins for every win. Rewards for advancing through Tiers: Bronze Tier 1: 5,000 Coins Tier 2: 6,000 Coins Tier 3: 7,000 Coins Silver Tier 1: 8,000 Coins Tier 2: 10,000 Coins Tier 3: 12,000 Coins Gold Tier 1: 15,000 Coins Tier 2: 18,000 Coins Tier 3: 20,000 Coins Elite Tier 1: 25,000 Coins Tier 2: 30,000 Coins Tier 3: 35,000 Coins Hero Tier 1: 40,000 Coins TIer 2: 50,000 Coins Tier 3: 60,000 Coins Champion TIer 1: 70,000 Coins TIer 2: 80,000 Coins Tier 3: 90,000 Coins Top 100 100,000 Coins On the first of the month, if you participated in Head to Head Ranked, you will earn a specific tier of a unique player item depending on what rank you have achieved. For the first reward this year, players will receive the following player item. More details can be found below. Kendal Daniels 6’5 239lbs SS Box Specialist If you place in the Top 100, you will receive a 92 OVR version. The lower you place, the lower his OVR will be as a reward. Starting at Hero Division Ranking or Higher, you will be able to change his scheme chemistry for free!! All versions of Kendal Daniels will be able to swap out his Team Chemistry for free! You will be able to apply him to any team you wish without having to pay for the change regardless of where you place! Here is a full breakdown of your end of season rewards: Bronze 83 OVR BND Kendal Daniels Silver 85 OVR BND Kendal Daniels 3,000 Coins Gold 87 OVR BND Kendal Daniels 10,000 Coins Elite 89 OVR BND Kendal Daniels 35,000 Coins Hero 90 OVR BND Kendal Daniels 60,000 Coins Champion 91 OVR BND Kendal Daniels 100,000 Coins Top 100 92 OVR Kendal Daniels Abilities Buckets (x3) Gold (-2 discounted AP) + Silver (discounted -3AP) Gold (-2 discounted AP) + Silver (discounted -3AP) Gold + Silver (discounted -2 AP) 250,000 Coins We hope you enjoy battling it out in the new Ranked mode. Let us know what you think on @EASPORTS_CUT, we’re always on the lookout for your feedback! Gameplay Updates Passing Game Route Stem Logic Change - Updated route stems to a 3 yard minimum. DEV NOTE: This change enables defensive backs to read and react more realistically, creating a better balance between offense and defense. By preserving the original route design's integrity, it enhances the authenticity of the gameplay experience and promotes a balanced dynamic between offense and defense. Expanded Pass Protection Options - All pass protection types are now available in Coach Adjustments (previously limited to Base). DEV NOTE: Players can now choose from Base, Empty, Half Left, Full Left, Half Right, Full Right or Default. All pre-snap functionality remains unchanged; however, you now have access to the full range of protection options. Fixed an issue where an unintentional bad snap would fly past the QB, resulting in a fumble when running Pistol - Spread: Jet Touch Pass. Fixed an issue where sometimes throwing the bubble route on Singleback Bunch TE: Alert Bubble play would result in a fumble because the receiver could not make the catch on a backwards pass. Blocking Running Back Blocking Improvements - Running backs now handle TEX stunts more effectively when using Half Slide protection. Fixed an issue where Pass Rushers were unable to consistently trigger Pass Rush Moves and would just remain in a blocking loop. Tuning to allow defenders to attempt pass rush moves more frequently on each play. Tuning to increase defender super-win chance for pass rushers with equal or slightly lower ratings than the blocker. DEV NOTE: Previously, pass rushers would only get super win outcomes when rated higher than their blocker; now, we've increased the range to allow for more super-win outcomes even when rated slightly worse than their blocker to increase the pass rush effectiveness globally. Tuning to increase bull-rush/push of the blocker towards the center of the pocket to increase natural pocket degradation. Fixed an issue where Offensive blockers were going too far downfield setting blocks on the Gun Bunch Str Nasty – Mtn Double Pass play resulting in Offensive Pass Interference being called. Addressed an issue where the offensive line was failing to pick up 3-4 Tite Saw Blitz 0 allowing the Blitzing MLB to come through A-Gap untouched. QB Contain QB Contain vs PA - On Play Action plays, Contain Defenders will no longer use the surf technique which limited their ability to set the edge effectively. Contain Logic Improvement - On normal pass plays, Contain Defenders will no longer abort their contain assignment prematurely while the QB is still a scramble threat. DEV NOTE: This enhancement to QB Contain allows defenders to disengage from blocks more responsively and at more appropriate times, enabling them to take smarter pursuit angles. As a result, they’re better equipped to maintain outside leverage and effectively contain mobile quarterbacks, reducing the likelihood of extended scrambles. Fixed an issue when Defenders in QB Contain were not appropriately steering themselves into the appropriate position to be able to effectively set the edge. Running Game Addressed an issue where the RB’s initial move was not appropriately sending him up the field at the snap on Gun Tight Slot Open: HB Direct Snap. Fixed an issue where users were unable to hand the ball off when running inside veer plays to the left. Coverage Coach Adjustment RPO Defense - When users set their RPO Pass Key Coach Adjustment to Conservative, defenders will now cover the Seams and the Flats instead of playing their Run Fit assignments. Zone defenders now react more reliably to RPO passes when Coach Adjustments are applied Post Play Fixed an issue where the ball would teleport and float during the bowling celebration after scoring a TD. Presentation New Uniforms Available Arizona State Black Uniform Florida Atlantic University New Home, Away, and Alternate Uniforms James Madison University New Gold Helmet and Pants Ole Miss New Realtree Helmet Texas Tech Mahomes White Uniform Texas Tech Throwback Uniform Tulane Alternate Uniform University of Alabama at Birmingham Updated Black Uniform University of Louisiana at Lafayette Updated Black Uniform University of Virginia 2025 Throwback Uniform Wisconsin Throwback Uniform ..And More! Check out all of the new uniform pieces in the game! New Equipment Pieces Nike Vapor Pro 1’s Nike Vapor Speed 3’s Nike Lebron IV Menace’s Thank you all so much for your sharing incredible moments, feedback, and expressing your passion for College Football 26. — The Entire College Football 26 Development Team [Source]College Football 26 - Road to Glory Deep Dive
Welcome Back to the Campus Huddle, your home for news and information about EA SPORTS™ College Football 26 straight from the developer team! We know you have been waiting for more information about Road to Glory and we have a lot to share with you today. Before we get started with the Campus Huddle, let's hear from Kirk Herbstreit for a video deep dive on Road to Glory and Superstar! Now, once again, let’s hear from Chad Walker, Producer, and Ben Haumiller, Principal Game Designer, for College Football 26. Let’s get started! BUILDING ON THE FOUNDATION In College Football 25, we laid the foundation for our multi-year vision of what Road to Glory could become. We wanted the mode to be fast to fun, highly replayable, and grounded in the kinds of meaningful decisions that define a college athlete’s journey. From the start, our goal was to create an experience without right or wrong answers — one where every choice was rooted in meaningful decisions that shaped your path and legacy. It was incredible to see the community response and how much fun players had with characters like Audrey, getting blocked after sending a bold text, and creating memes from those unexpected moments. But in listening to our players, a few clear themes emerged. First, players wanted a more meaningful recruiting experience — more agency in deciding where they go to school, and more control over the moments that lead there. Second, while Coach Trust was a strong foundation for getting on the field, players wanted more tension, more rewards, and more to chase once they earned the starting job. And third, players wanted a better way to track their achievements and celebrate everything they’d earned across their career. With College Football 26, we’ve built directly on that feedback as part of our multi-year vision — expanding Road to Glory in ways that deepen the recruiting process, increase the importance of every decision, and reward players for how they grow over time. Every moment still matters. But now, there are even more ways to shape your future. CREATION Your journey in Road to Glory begins with your first meaningful decision — choosing your initial star rating. This choice defines your starting path and character creation, setting the tone for your attributes, abilities, and the early expectations around you. Regardless of the path you choose, you’ll face challenges along the way — and how you respond to them will shape everything that follows. There are four distinct starting points: Elite (5-star), Blue Chip (4-star), Contributor (3-star), and Underdog (2-star). Each offers a unique experience, from carrying the weight of national expectations to battling for recognition from the ground up. Your selected star rating sets your starting attributes and determines whether you begin with an ability tied to your archetype. Elite 5-star prospects start with one gold and one silver ability. Blue Chip 4-star prospects begin with one silver ability. Contributor and Underdog players won’t start with any abilities — they’ll have to earn them by proving they belong. The ability you start with is determined by your archetype. A Pocket Passer quarterback begins with Step Up and Dot, while a Pure Runner starts with Magician and Workhorse. But that early edge isn’t guaranteed to last. Just because you start as a 5-star doesn’t mean you can’t finish as a 2-star — and just because you start as a 2-star doesn’t mean you can’t climb all the way to 5-star status. Maintaining a top rating will require near-perfection throughout your high school journey. After selecting your starting star rating, your next major decision is choosing your position and archetype — a choice that defines how you play and how schools view your potential. In College Football 26, you can play as a Quarterback, Halfback, Wide Receiver, MIKE Linebacker, or Cornerback. Each position now features new, uniquely designed archetypes that reflect the diverse styles and skill sets seen across the college football landscape. This year, we’ve overhauled the entire archetype system to better mirror the real traits that make each player type distinct — from physical tools to mental makeup. For example, Halfback now includes six archetypes. You might be an East/West Playmaker, a shiftier back who can create space and generate big-play moments, or an Elusive Bruiser, who combines agility in the open field with downhill physicality. Each archetype comes with its own starting attributes, skill group caps, and a curated set of physical abilities tailored to your style of play. These choices don’t just shape how you play — they directly affect your recruiting path. Certain schools may be more or less interested in your archetype depending on how well you fit their scheme. A service academy like Army or Navy, for example, may be hesitant to pursue a Pocket Passer because it doesn’t align with their offensive system. That doesn’t mean you can’t earn their interest — it just means you’ll have to work harder to change minds. After selecting your archetype, it’s time to customize your player — from the school you represent to how you look and move on the field. This is where your identity takes shape. Start by choosing where you’re from. This decision isn’t just cosmetic — it directly influences recruiting. Local and in-state schools will show stronger interest, looking to lock down top regional talent. That doesn’t mean you can’t go out-of-state, but it will take more to earn those offers early. Next, set your high school name and mascot. There are six preset mascots to choose from, each with their own uniforms, colors, and logo. But if you’re looking for more control — or you want to represent your actual high school — you can take advantage of full Team Builder integration. To use Team Builder: Head to the Team Builder website when College Football 26 is live worldwide and create your school. Design your uniforms, set your stadium, and build your roster — keeping in mind that this is still high school football. If you stack your team with all 90 OVR players, don’t expect much competition from the other side. Once you’ve finalized your design, upload your team to the Download Center under Create & Share from the game’s main menu. When starting Road to Glory, choose Import High School Team Builder. From there, select your downloaded team. You’ll be given the option to import your custom roster. If you choose not to, a generic high school roster will be applied to your team. However, your custom stadium will always be used. Whether you go with a preset mascot or a fully custom creation, your high school becomes the backdrop to your early journey — shaping your season, your story, and your first shot at college attention. Once your school is set, it’s time to focus on your appearance and style. Choose from body types, including the newly added Lean frame that reflects long, wiry athletes. Equip your player with that on-field drip, then fine-tune how they move on game day. This year, we’ve expanded our styles and stances system with deeper customization options. Choose from over 40 throw styles, and select how your player runs, carries the ball, and lines up pre-snap. Whether you’re clapping to call for the snap in shotgun or crouching textbook-tight under center, these animations bring your player’s personality to life. With your player fully created, your high school selected, and your style locked in, it’s time to begin your journey and take the field. From here, every rep matters — and every performance shapes the next chapter of your Road to Glory. Your decisions in creation set the tone. But your legacy is built with every rep after that. HIGH SCHOOL Your Road to Glory officially begins with your first media moment — an interview with local reporter Alice Zimmer, who’s covering your rise as a high school prospect. Alice kicks off your recruiting story by asking a critical question: what motivates you when choosing a college? Whether it’s academics, championships, playing time, or something else entirely, your answers help define the kind of programs that will be most interested in you. Schools will evaluate your fit based on how well your motivations align with their My School grades, which will start to determine which programs are most likely to pursue you early in your journey. Once the interview ends, it’s time to begin your high school season, where your goal is to Build Your Tape. Your tape is a direct reflection of your abilities and proficiency of your position. The better your tape, the more schools will be interested in you. But attention isn’t enough. To earn a scholarship offer, your tape score must meet or exceed the standard for that program. Before we dive into how you build your tape, it’s important to understand how to set your recruiting board — and manage the top schools that are watching your every move. MANAGING YOUR TOP SCHOOLS Recruiting is competitive, and how you manage your top schools can make or break your path to a scholarship. Each school sets a scholarship threshold, and to earn an offer, your Assessed Tape Score must meet or exceed it. Your Assessed Tape Score will vary from school to school. It is a representation of how that school views your film and how well your skillset aligns with what they’re looking for at your position. A school’s scholarship threshold isn’t static. It’s shaped by multiple factors, including: Team Prestige Scheme Fit Your Motivations Proximity to campus Team Needs Your answers in scenarios and other off-field decisions To make informed decisions, you can view each school’s full evaluation of you from the Overview tab on your recruiting board. Here, you’ll find your Assessed Tape Score, Projected Role, Current Depth Chart, and Head Coach boosts and tendencies — everything you need to understand how that school sees you and where you might fit. You’ll be competing for offers against other recruits as a part of a 4,100 player recruiting class, where schools are targeting other players at your position. From the Recruiting Class tab, you can see which prospects a school is actively pursuing. If another player commits at your position, your Assessed Tape Score might no longer be enough — making an offer harder to earn or even pulling it off the table entirely. You can manage your board at any time from the My Recruitment action in the High School hub. You’re allowed up to 10 schools on your list, and you can add, remove, or swap them out based on your evolving recruiting picture. When browsing new schools to add or swapping one out, you’ll be able to view each program’s full assessment of your Tape Score to see where you stand before making a decision. You can also reorder your board anytime by holding R2/RT to keep your priorities in check. And while you focus on your journey, the world of college football continues to evolve around you. Seniors graduate, new recruits commit, coaches change jobs, and players enter the Transfer Portal — all of which reshapes the college landscape by the time you’re ready to commit. Stay plugged in through the High School hub, where you can view rankings, top stories, coaching moves, award watchlists, and everything else that is happening in the College Football world. BUILDING YOUR TAPE Once your season begins, it’s time to show what you can do on the field — and that means building your tape. Over the course of your high school schedule, you’ll play five games, each made up of four key moments designed to showcase your skill set. These moments drop you into a wide variety of football scenarios and challenge you with specific drive goals — like leading a go-ahead scoring drive or flipping field position after being pinned deep. Most drives include two goals: a basic goal that’s more achievable, and a harder goal that rewards more tape score if completed. Some drives may only feature a singular, high-stakes goal, offering a significant tape score boost if you rise to the occasion. These goals are your chance to prove you can execute in pressure-packed situations. Your performance in these moments directly shapes your Tape Score. Each drive is an opportunity to demonstrate your execution, decision-making, and ability to rise to the moment. The more goals you complete, the better your tape — and the more schools will take notice. Each week’s set of moments is built around a theme tied to your archetype. These themes are designed to measure your proficiency in your position and your ability to attack different defensive schemes, coverages, and players that challenge your role. For example, as a Pocket Passer, you might be tested against a shutdown corner one week or a blitz-heavy defense the next. Across all archetypes, there are more than 700 unique moments in the game — each one crafted to reflect the real variety and demands of college-bound talent. Schools evaluate these moments differently based on their schemes and what they value in a player. Some schools may place a higher weight on pocket presence and poise under pressure, while others may care more about mobility or improvisation. This is reflected in the Tape Score Boost each school applies — which can range from 1.0x to 3.0x depending on how much they value the situation you were placed in. When selecting which moments you want to complete, it is critical that you take into account the situation you are walking into, as well as how your top schools value that moment. Your ability to complete the moment, as well as selecting moments that your top school values highly can make or break your chances of earning a scholarship offer. The variation in evaluation from school to school is what makes your journey unique — your tape is more than a stat sheet. It’s a statement of who you are as a player, and which schools believe in your potential. Once you’ve selected your four moments for the week, it’s time to take the field. Before each drive begins, you’ll see a banner that sets the stage — outlining the situation, your drive goals, and how different schools view the moment. But once the whistle blows, it’s on you to execute. During gameplay, you’ll have access to your full playbook, customized to your archetype. A Pure Runner might see more quarterback-designed runs, while a Pocket Passer will have additional plays that stretch the field through the air. At the line of scrimmage, you’ll have full control with access to pre-snap adjustments like audibles, hot routes, and pass protection shifts. Your drive goals are always visible in the top-right corner of the screen, so you’ll never lose sight of what you need to accomplish. If you’re matched up against a key player on the opposing team, you’ll see Rival above their head — calling out that player as an impact player. Whether it’s a star linebacker, shutdown corner, or elite receiver, these players demand your attention. After each moment ends, you’ll get a drive summary, breaking down your performance. This includes all completed goals, your total tape score for the game, how many moments remain, and any Team Impacts you created, which are plays that are not a part of your core drive goals, but influence your team’s ability to win the game. Team Impacts can work for or against you. For example, scoring a touchdown increases your team’s chance of winning and provides you with additional tape score. Conversely, throwing an interception, fumbling, or taking a sack hurts your team’s chances and reduces your tape score even if you completed your core objectives. If you're playing on a difficulty other than Heisman, you’ll also have the option to restart a moment from the summary screen. The number of retries available scales with your difficulty setting, rewarding players who take on greater challenges with fewer second chances. MANAGING YOUR STAR RATING After every game, you’ll see updates to your star rating along with your national, state, and position rankings. These rankings rise and fall based on your performance, and if you want to finish as a 5-star prospect, near perfection is required. But the path goes both ways — just because you start as a 5-star doesn’t mean you’ll stay there, and just because you begin as a 2-star doesn’t mean you can’t climb the rankings. Your final star rating has major consequences. It directly affects the strength of scholarship offers you receive, and it determines your starting attributes and abilities once you reach college. Players who finish as a 4-star or 5-star recruit will also unlock the ability to select an additional mental ability before leaving high school — a final edge earned through performance and consistency. Each week, you’ll encounter High School Scenarios — dynamic interactions with college coaches, classmates, and off-field challenges. Coaches may reach out with strong interest, pitching their program and explaining why you’re the right fit. But they may also tell you they’re no longer recruiting you or that you’re not the right fit after all. When coaches reach out, you’ll often have choices to make. You might call them out as your current favorite, which increases your chances with that school, but at the cost of slightly lowering interest from other programs. Or you could publicly signal that you’re no longer interested, tanking your odds with that school but giving a boost to schools still on your board. Every response matters, and each decision reshapes your recruiting picture. Scenarios also evolve dynamically based on your location, playing time opportunity, and in-game performance. A coach’s interest in you can rise or fall week to week. They’ll even adjust their messaging — advocating for their program by pointing to a winning season, a dip in your other top schools’ performance, or the prestige of their university compared to your other options. You’ll also engage with classmates, facing questions like how you want to study for an upcoming standardized test or how you’re preparing for events like homecoming. How you respond in these moments — both with coaches and peers — can positively or negatively affect how programs view you. Every on and off field decision you make in your high school journey will ultimately shape your future prospects on the gridiron. HIGHLIGHT MOMENTS In addition to coaches pitching you on their program, some schools will challenge you directly — asking you to put a specific skill on tape that aligns with what they’re looking for. These are called Highlight Moments, and they’re among the most intense opportunities in your recruiting journey. Highlight Moments are high risk, high reward. They give you the chance to make a major leap with a particular school, but the challenge comes with a steep price: the tape score boost you earn only applies to that one school, and the goals are significantly harder than what you’ll face in standard gameplay. When you attempt a Highlight Moment, the requesting school will apply a 6.0x tape score modifier — double the standard maximum of 3.0x from normal moments. If you pull it off, the reward is massive: it can move you up a school’s board, reignite interest if you were falling behind, or upgrade their scholarship offer package. These moments can take many forms — from throwing a perfect lob pass for a touchdown to hitting a deep 50-yard completion. The key is that they are tailored to a specific skill the school values, and your success or failure in that moment can define how that program views your future. Complete it, and you could put yourself back in the conversation. Miss it, and you may lose valuable ground. Highlight Moments are opportunities — but like everything else in Road to Glory, they have consequences. And not all scholarships are created equal. SCHOLARSHIP OFFERS Earning a scholarship offer is a milestone — but it’s just the beginning. Not all scholarships are created equal, and each one comes with its own tier, bonuses, and risks. Once you receive an offer, your next goal is to improve it. Scholarship tiers are dynamic — they can go up or down based on how you're performing, how schools view you, and what’s happening in the recruiting world around you. Your star rating plays a big role. As your rating climbs, schools may upgrade your offer with better perks. But if your rating drops, your offer can downgrade just as quickly. A 5-star prospect might receive the best possible starting offer from a program, but that can shift if your tape weakens or another recruit rises up the board. Your offer tier can also change if a school signs another player at your position. Not only will the required Assessed Tape Score to keep your offer increase, but the quality of the scholarship package itself may drop. Likewise, your interactions with coaches, your performance in highlight moments, and your choices in off-field scenarios all affect how schools see you — and whether they’re ready to commit premium resources to you. What Comes With a Better Scholarship? Higher-tier offers aren’t just for bragging rights — they come with bonuses that impact your college career: Stronger starting values in your academics, brand, leadership, and training meters Additional XP Extra Skill Points Higher starting Coach Trust These perks won’t apply until you arrive on campus, but they can make a big difference early in your college career — giving you a leg up on playing time, progression, and leadership roles. If a school has offered you a scholarship offer, you can view their offer and the bonuses they are giving you from the “Recruitment” tab of your recruiting board. Here you can compare each school's scholarship offer and see the best bonus they can offer in a particular area. Verbally Committing To protect your scholarship tier and bonuses, you can verbally commit to a school. This locks in your offer exactly as it stands — including its current bonuses. Once committed, your offer can’t get worse… but it also can’t get better. Even if you dominate in your next game and increase your star rating, the school’s offer won’t change unless you decommit. However, decommitting comes with consequences. If you back out, the Tape Score threshold required to earn a new offer from that school will increase — possibly enough to lose the offer entirely if you were just above the line. Additionally, your maximum potential bonus with that school will decrease. In other words, the best they can offer you going forward might not be as strong as what you had before. And just because you have an offer doesn’t mean it’s safe. This is a live recruiting class. If a school signs another player at your position, your standing can fall. Poor scenario decisions or slumping performance can cause your value to drop and your offer to be revoked. SENIOR NIGHT At the end of your high school season, you’ll get one last chance to leave it all on the field — Senior Night. This is your capstone moment, a final opportunity to showcase your growth, your tape, and everything you’ve built throughout the season. You’ll be honored with a special runout, flowers in hand, as you celebrate your final home game under the lights. But this night isn’t just symbolic — it’s also your last chance to manage your top schools. Once the game wraps up, you’ll need to officially announce your Top 3. This decision is critical. These are the three programs you’ll take with you into Signing Day, and the hats you’ll see on the table when it’s time to make your college choice. Choose carefully because Signing Day is just around the corner. SIGNING DAY You’ve made your tape. You’ve earned your offers. Now it’s time to make your choice. Signing Day is the final step in your high school journey and your first step into college football. The scene is set in your high school gymnasium, with hats laid out for each school in your top three. This is your moment — and how you handle it is up to you. Want to fake out the crowd? Go ahead and pick up a hat just to put it back down. Want to throw one across the gym for dramatic effect? You can do that too. But when it’s all said and done, you’ll grab the hat for the school you’re ready to commit to — the place where you’ll begin to leave your legacy in the college football world. WELCOME TO COLLEGE You’ve earned your offer. You’ve chosen your school. Now it’s time to prove you belong. The college phase of Road to Glory begins with a new set of challenges — and more decisions that will shape your future on and off the field. Once you arrive on campus, your scholarship bonuses take effect, giving you a boost based on the offers you earned. If you preordered College Football 26, you’ll also receive a bonus of 50 Skill Points when you start any Road to Glory save. This bonus is separate from your scholarship and can be disabled in league settings for players who want to start from scratch. The bonus skill points are only available from preorder and are not purchasable with real money. You will be able to earn more skill points through your play. Like a real student-athlete, managing your time is key. Each week, you’ll take part in two main activities. First, practice is where you’ll earn Coach Trust — essential for climbing the depth chart and earning opportunities to play. The more trust you build, the faster you’ll rise within your program. Second, you’ll set your Weekly Agenda, deciding how to spend your time off the field. Focus on academics to stay eligible and unlock mental abilities, hit the weight room to improve your physical attributes, or socialize to build your brand. You can also spend time with teammates to develop leadership or recover to maintain your health through the season. Balancing these activities effectively will be key to becoming a well-rounded and successful student-athlete. You won’t be able to maximize everything — so how you manage your time each week will define the kind of player you become. WEEKLY AGENDA To better reflect a real week in the life of a student athlete, we’ve updated the energy system in College Football 26. You’ll now have 5 energy points on a short week, 6 on a regular week, and 7 on a bye week, giving you one point for each open day in your schedule. You’ll use this energy to spend time across different categories and each decision you make pushes or pulls on your meters in unique ways. We’ve also rebalanced how each meter works. They now rise and fall more dynamically based on your weekly decisions and energy use, making each choice more meaningful. Prioritizing one area might mean sacrificing progress in another, creating natural push/pull tension that mirrors real student-athlete life. New off-field scenarios and dilemmas will also appear during the week — affecting your meters both positively and negatively. These moments reflect the unpredictability of college life and the consequences of how you respond to the world around you. This year, your Weekly Agenda goes a step further. You won’t just be managing short-term fatigue — you’ll also need to think about long-term wear and tear. The choices you make each week don’t just impact the next game; they stack up across the season and your career. Taking care of your body will be essential. Whether it’s dialing back training, prioritizing recovery, or simply making smarter decisions about your workload, how you manage your physical health plays a direct role in your success. If you don’t take care of your body, your career won’t reach its full potential. SEASON AND CAREER HEALTH As we discussed in the Dynasty Deep Dive, managing your body over time is just as important as avoiding injuries. Much like a boxer, a football player can only absorb so many hits before the wear and tear catches up. It’s not just about whether you’re injured — it’s about how your body responds to the physical demands of a long season. Every hit adds up, and as our friend OG says, “not all hits are created equal.” Some players hold up over time. Others wear down under the weight of repeated impacts. In College Football 26, Road to Glory introduces season and career health pools. These track how much wear and tear damage you can recover in a single season and across your entire career. Every time you take steps to recover, it pulls from these pools. Once your season health pool is depleted, you won’t be able to recover further until the offseason when your body fully heals. At the end of each season, your pool replenishes, but not always to the same level. The size of next year’s pool depends on how much of it was left intact at the end of the current season. If you barely made it through and burned most of your recovery capacity, you’ll start the next year with a smaller pool. Finish the year in good shape, and you’ll start the next season with a similar health pool. In addition to managing your wear and tear week to week, you’re now managing your career clock. Every hit you take in games, and every decision you make in your Weekly Agenda about how hard you train, directly impacts your season health. Training too aggressively can drain your recovery potential and leave you worn down by the end of the year. Long-term success depends on how well you balance development with durability — not just how much work you put in, but how smartly you manage it. NIL DEALS Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) opportunities are a core part of life as a student-athlete — and they’re a significant piece of your journey in College Football 26. NIL deals allow you to partner with brands, boost your personal profile, and earn valuable rewards as you build your legacy. This year, we’ve expanded the system with over 35 new NIL deals, giving you a wider range of partnerships to pursue. We’ve also completely rebalanced NIL payouts, making deals more meaningful and more rewarding than ever before. Most notably, NIL deals can now pay out skill points, giving you another powerful path to progression beyond just on-field performance. Previously, the only clear way to progress your player outside of on-field performance was through Training — a reliable option, but one that came with the downside of increasing your wear and tear damage over time. Now, focusing on your brand and pursuing NIL deals offers an alternate path to develop your player without adding wear and tear. NIL still comes with a cost. These deals require energy, and accepting them means weighing your weekly priorities. But the tradeoff can be worth it — especially when the right deal provides the boosts or skill points you need to stay ahead. SCENARIOS AND DILEMMAS Scenarios return in College Football 26, once again putting you in tough situations that test your priorities, values, and ambition. These moments aren’t just window dressing — they shape your path and leave a lasting impact on your career. Scenarios are triggered based on the decisions you make and how you choose to spend your time off the field. Some dilemmas will be actual conflicts with real consequences like whether to skip class for a short-term gain knowing there’s a chance you’ll get caught, or whether to steal your teammate’s date, which might give you a boost but risk creating tension in the locker room. As we said from the beginning, there are no right or wrong answers, only the path that you create. Every situation you face will affect how your story unfolds. Your decisions directly impact your meters, including Coach Trust and the newly introduced Coach Happiness system. Coach Happiness gives coaches another lens through which to evaluate you — not just as a player, but as someone in their locker room. In College Football 26, we’ve added more dilemmas and interactions that challenge the balance of your meters. And in response to community feedback, all in-game coach challenges now award XP, rewarding performance and giving every moment more value. Every choice you make, on or off the field, contributes to your journey. These scenarios don’t just fill space. They define your story. COACH TRUST AND POSITION BATTLES In College Football 25, Coach Trust was a great mechanic for getting you onto the field and earning playing time, but once you won the job, there was little risk in losing it unless you became academically ineligible. Players asked for more to chase after earning their role, and this year, Coach Trust has grown into a long-term progression system that rewards you for consistent performance and growth. Coach Trust now goes beyond just winning your position. As you earn more of it, you’ll unlock new abilities on the field, including greater access to the playbook and more control at the line of scrimmage: Play Swaps: Get a new set of plays to choose from Increased Number of Plays: Start with one play to choose during playcalling and work up to 2 plays, then 3, 6, 9, 15, all the way to full playbook access when you’ve achieved max coach trust Audibles: Change the play at the line of scrimmage Hot Routes: Adjust receiver or defender assignments QB Protections (offense only): Modify offensive line protection Defensive Adjustments (defense only): Make line and linebacker adjustments Coach Trust reflects how much trust your coaches have in you — not just to earn snaps, but to command the huddle and control the offense or defense. It’s a system that grows with you throughout your college career. You’ll build Coach Trust through your in-game performance and practice, both played and simulated. And this year, if you sim practice, you’ll now receive a notification showing exactly how much Coach Trust you earned that week — making your progression clearer and more trackable than ever. As your Coach Trust grows, you’ll compete in Position Battles for depth chart spots. In College Football 26, the score you need to beat now scales based on the position you are battling for. Winning the starting job is more difficult than it is to move from third string to backup. This added intensity reflects the real challenge of taking someone’s spot at the top and makes climbing the depth chart feel more competitive and earned. COACH HAPPINESS While Coach Trust reflects your long-term growth, it does not capture how your coach feels about you in the moment based on your on field performance and off field decision making. In College Football 26, we are introducing Coach Happiness which is a direct reflection of how your coach feels about you right now. It’s a short-term, week-to-week system that reacts to your in-game performance and off-field decisions — and it can make or break your spot on the depth chart. Coach Happiness fluctuates week to week and game to game. If it’s high, you’ll progress through Coach Trust faster. If it drops too low, your Coach Trust slows, you may begin to lose trust each week, and if things get bad enough, you could be benched or demoted entirely. Once you’ve lost your depth chart spot, you’ll need to compete in a Position Battle to earn it back — but your coach won’t even consider giving you another shot until your happiness rating has returned to neutral. It doesn’t matter how good you are or how dominant you are on the field, if you are becoming a distraction to the program or you aren’t taking care of business, you will quickly fall out of favor with your coach and find yourself having to climb back up the depth chart. What Affects Coach Happiness? There are four primary factors that influence Coach Happiness: Game Performance, Meters, Scenarios, and Practice. Game Performance: This is your biggest driver. Win games, make big plays, avoid mistakes — and your coach will be happy. Mess up repeatedly or underperform, and the leash gets shorter. Players with a high OVR have more room for error; fringe starters don’t. One bad game won’t tank you, but stack a couple, and you’ll feel the effects. Meters: Your GPA and Leadership ratings contribute each week based on your off-field actions. A low GPA or poor leadership can hurt your Coach Happiness. If you really don’t take care of business in the classroom and you become academically ineligible, your coach will lose a significant amount of happiness and not only will you be suspended, you will lose your spot entirely. Conversely, staying eligible and leading by example will boost your standing. Scenarios: Weekly off-field scenarios can shift Coach Happiness based on your decisions. Complimenting your coach in an interview or showing mastery of the playbook during a team meeting will earn favor. Skip class, get caught cheating, or embarrass the program, and you’ll take a hit. For example: If you are falling behind in class and some guy named Chad hands you a cheat sheet for your test and you take it — you might gain short-term academic benefits, but your coach will be furious if you get caught. Practice: Coach Happiness also changes based on how you perform in weekly practices. No medal = small loss. Bronze = neutral. Silver or Gold = small gain. Practice may not move the needle as quickly as games, but it helps maintain trust during quieter weeks. Coach Happiness adds a layer of short-term consequence and emotion to your career. Your coach isn’t just there to look good — he’s evaluating you week by week. Every performance, every rep, every decision matters. If you want to stay on the field, keep your coach happy. GAMEDAY When it’s time to suit up, our goal is to make you feel the moment. Whether you’re stepping onto the field in front of a packed home crowd or taking on a hostile road environment with 100,000 fans against you, College Football 26 brings gameday to life in a way that’s more immersive and personal than ever before. During gameplay, we’ve introduced new Road to Glory camera options, based directly on player feedback, to help you see the field from better angles and feel more connected to the action. Presentation this year is built around you — especially when you take the field at home. Now when you are running out of the tunnel, you’re no longer just watching the pageantry of college football; you’re a part of it. As you walk down the tunnel ready to run out onto the field, the camera will be directly behind your player keeping you fully in the moment. You’ll hear the band echoing through the stadium, see teammates rallying around you, and feel the electricity of a packed house welcoming you to the field. In Florida, you’ll touch the Gator Head. At Oklahoma, you’ll run behind the Sooner Schooner. At LSU, you’ll tap the Win bar. These are college football traditions brought to life, and now you’re a part of it. As you take the field you can pan the camera with the right stick, soaking in the environment and owning the moment as the crowd erupts around you. As you start to cook and your player becomes him, the environment will begin to react to you. You’ll see fans holding signs with your name on them. Some will even have your name painted across their chests. But gameday isn’t just about atmosphere — it’s also about survival. Each time you step on the field, you’ll need to manage your wear and tear. Push your body too far, take too many hits, or play reckless football, and your season health will suffer. Do you take the risk to hang in the pocket and deliver a strike knowing you’ll get hit? Do you run one more play late in the game at 40 carries, or check out to protect your body? These are the decisions you’ll have to make. PER PLAY GRADING Every snap matters. In College Football 26, your in-game performance is now tracked through a Per Play Grading system — a direct reflection of how your coach evaluates you, moment by moment. Your starting grade is determined by your current Coach Happiness level. Players with a low Coach Happiness level will start with a lower grade and have a much shorter leash as a result. Every play updates your grade in real time, whether it’s a clean touchdown pass, a key defensive stop, a costly sack, or a missed read. Grades are meant to be earned. Getting an A takes consistent execution and standout plays. But make too many mistakes, and you’ll drop fast. If your grade falls to an F, you’ll be benched for a quarter. When you return, you'll start with a D+ — one more chance to prove yourself. But mess up again, and your coach won’t hesitate to pull you out a second time. At the end of each game, your final grade determines what rewards (or consequences) you earn. That includes: Followers: Gain or lose fans based on performance Player XP: Progress your player more quickly with a strong grade Coach Trust: Gain or lose coach trust based on performance Coach Happiness: Increase or decrease your coach’s satisfaction with you When it comes to how your coach sees you and their happiness level based on your performance, not all leashes are created equal. A high OVR starter may get the benefit of the doubt after a rough game. But a fringe contributor or backup? One bad performance can set you back fast. Still, Coach Happiness is about consistency. To gain or lose significant amounts of happiness, you’ll need to stack performances across multiple weeks. One off-day won’t ruin you. But if you struggle again the next week, expect the consequences to start compounding — and to see your coach’s happiness with you begin to fade. We see it every Saturday in real life. And now, you’ll feel it in Road to Glory. Every rep. Every drive. Every play. PROGRESSION Progression in College Football 26 has been reworked to offer a more natural and rewarding sense of growth throughout your career. We’ve increased the number of skill group levels from 10 to 20, allowing for more gradual development and greater control over how you shape your player. As part of this overhaul, we’ve also rebalanced the upgrade costs at each level, ensuring that each investment feels meaningful and matches the pace of your career. You can upgrade your player at any time by selecting the Upgrade Player action item in the Actions tab of the RTG Hub, or by pressing the Player Info button in the Player tab. Your player will progress through three primary activities: Gameplay, Training, and NIL Deals. Unlike Dynasty players, you will not receive offseason progression, so there’s increased importance on how you spend your time during the season. This year also introduces new physical and mental abilities, as detailed in the Gameplay Deep Dive. Alongside these additions, we’ve updated how you unlock physical ability tiers. Previously, advancing an ability tier only required a single attribute rating, for example, hitting 95 Toughness to unlock Platinum Workhorse. Now, some abilities require multiple attribute thresholds to reach top-tier versions. For example, Platinum Shifty now requires both 97 Change of Direction and 96 Acceleration for a Wide Receiver. These added requirements increase the value of elite traits and further drive player differentiation across archetypes and positions. LEAVING YOUR LEGACY Every great player leaves a legacy — now Road to Glory gives you the tools to build, track, and celebrate it. There is no set ending. No scripted finale. Whether you’re chasing Heismans, winning a title at a different school every year, or simply trying to carve out a meaningful career on your terms, Road to Glory supports the path you choose. This year, we’ve added multiple systems to help you capture and remember the journey — not just when it ends, but as it unfolds. TROPHY ROOM The Trophy Room is your place to celebrate the biggest moments of your Road to Glory career. Every time you win a rivalry game, bowl game, conference title, national championship, or individual award, the trophy is automatically added to your Trophy Room. You’ll receive a notification in-game, and you can view your full collection from the RTG Hub, main menu, or global profile. Each Road to Glory character has its own Trophy Room, tied specifically to that player. Team-based trophies include full context: season, team, opponent, and final score. Individual awards show your name, team, and the year you brought home the hardware. You can even select a trophy to learn more about its history and significance in college football. In total, there are more than 160 rivalry, bowl, and individual award trophies to collect. Whether you’re flexing your second Heisman, third natty, or just looking back on the moments that defined your storied career, the Trophy Room is built to celebrate your legacy. College Football has a list of all time greats — those unforgettable players who became synonymous with the sport. Now, your legacy, name, and moments live on, immortalized forever in your Trophy Room. ETCHING YOUR NAME INTO COLLEGE FOOTBALL HISTORY Your legacy isn’t just personal — it can now be etched into the record books of college football itself. In College Football 26, the College Football History screen gives you the chance to see your name listed alongside some of the sport’s all-time greats. Accessible from the Stats & Records tab of the Road to Glory Hub, College Football History is a curated archive of the sport’s biggest achievements. It tracks a timeline of historical award winners, national champions, and conference champions — stretching from Yale’s first national title in 1869 to Jay Berwanger winning the first Heisman Memorial Trophy in 1935. As you earn these same accolades during your Road to Glory career, your name will appear in those same records. Whether it’s a national championship, a conference title, or a major individual award, every major moment you earn is added to the legacy of the sport — side by side with real legends. And with College Football 26, we’ve deepened this experience even further by adding 14 new authentic awards, including the Maxwell Award and the Walter Camp Award, giving you more ways to make history. In addition to College Football History, you can now view all of your awards and accolades from your player card. Within the player card, go to the more tab and then stats. Once you are within the stats screen filter to Awards. This will show all of your individual awards like Heisman Trophies, conference championships, national championship, All-American and All-Conference selections, how many times you have been national and conference player of the week, and your transfer history. FROM FRIDAY NIGHTS TO SUNDAY Your Road to Glory career begins under the Friday night lights — a high school hopeful with dreams of something bigger. From there, your path winds through Saturdays filled with pressure, rivalries, championships, and growth. Once your college journey comes to a close, it is time to finish your career at the highest level on Sundays. In College Football 26, we have expanded the integration between Road to Glory and Madden NFL 26 Superstar mode. This is a story and a journey that stretches from Friday to Saturday to Sunday, across two games, and one player. See the Madden NFL 26 Superstar deep dive for more details (EA account, internet connection, and all game updates required). Your decisions and your choices will ultimately shape your journey and your Road to Glory. That journey doesn’t end with college. It’s just getting started. POST-GAME SPEECH Being a college athlete is not easy and that’s exactly the experience we set out to replicate. The pressure. The choices. The grind. The moments that matter. Our goal is to give you the tools and meaningful decision points for you to craft your own story, your own path, and your own Road to Glory. Your decisions in the classroom, on field, and in the locker room will ultimately shape your journey and your Road to Glory. We cannot wait to see the stories you craft and the legacy you leave, from Friday nights to the Saturday lights, and all the way to the biggest stage on Sunday. We’ll see you in the next Deep Dive. — Chad Walker, Ben Haumiller (@BenHaumiller), and the entire College Football 26 Development team [Source] --- College Football 26 launches worldwide on July 10, 2025. Pre-order the Deluxe Edition** or the EA SPORTS™ MVP Bundle* and play 3 days early. Conditions and restrictions apply. See disclaimers for details. Stay in the conversation by following us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and the EA Forums. **Conditions & restrictions apply. See ea.com/games/ea-sports-college-football/college-football-26/game-disclaimers for details. *Conditions & restrictions apply. See https://www.ea.com/games/madden-nfl/madden-nfl-26/game-disclaimers for details.College Football 26 - Title Update August 6th
Hey there College Football Fans, welcome back to the Campus Huddle! Your source for all information and updates straight from the EA Sports College Football 26 development team! Today, we are back with another Title Update that will contain changes to how you play, fixes to issues across the game, new mascots, uniforms, and more! We have more changes coming in future updates, please continue to provide us feedback, we are always listening! But let's get started with what is coming in tomorrow's Title Update! Gameplay Coverage Hard Flats Behavior: Defenders now stay closer to the line and recognize swing routes as threats in the flat. Cover 2 Tampa: The middle defender now gets deeper, maintaining better leverage position against deep threats, especially from 3x1 formations. Cover 3 Match (incl. Buzz Mable & Zone Blitz 3): Logic improvements for Defenders when reacting to Slot WRs attempting to outleverage the defense on deep routes. Cover 2 Match (incl. Cover 6/9/Zone Blitz 2): Logic Improvements for defenders guarding inside and vertical routes, especially in formations like bunches and stacks. Improved defense against outside throws and motion-heavy offenses. Cover 4 Quarters: Against 3x1 sets Corners and Safeties pick up the appropriate vertical threat to ensure that the #3 Receiver is covered on deep routes. Cover 4 Palms & Cover 6: Corners won’t press by default on the trips side, reducing chances of one-play touchdowns. Blocking Pass Block/Pass Rush Pre-Play: Resolved issues where QB animations prevented players from making protection adjustments blocking the RB. Protection Menu: Now closes automatically after making an adjustment. Visual Feedback: Fixed display issues with pass block lines after hot routing the HB. Blocking Logic Enhancements: Improved recognition of stunts and loops across base, empty, and slide protections. Base protection is less effective against stunts, reflecting its man-on-man nature. Blockers are better at identifying late blitzers and avoiding premature handoffs that lead to free rushers. Pocket Behavior: Tuning to decrease the likelihood of pass blockers staying in double teams unnecessarily. Reduced frequency of illegal man downfield penalties. Edge rushers now better recognize when they’re being out-leveraged by scrambling QBs. Difficulty Tuning: Increased pass rush effectiveness on Heisman and All-American. Decreased pass rush effectiveness on lower difficulties. Run Block/Run Shed Targeting Fixes: Resolved issues where blockers missed or switched targets in open field, including on RPOs and core blocking schemes. Run Game Enhancements: Added logic to allow users to be able to untarget defenders on run plays using the ID Mike system. Fixed bugs causing double teams to split too slowly, preventing blockers from reaching the second level. Lead blocker logic and HB targeting in under-center formations have been improved to target the biggest threat in the open field. Engagement & Shedding Logic: Defenders’ leverage now appropriately affects block outcomes. Defensive linemen shed blocks more realistically in short-yardage situations. Edge players no longer disengage inside or take unrealistic inside angles. Reduced defender control on Block steering interactions. Animation & Ratings Logic: Defenders with big ratings advantages now trigger “super win” animations correctly. Fixed issues where edge rushers didn’t respond properly to scrambling QBs. General Blocking Animations Resolved multiple animation issues causing failure to match engagements, frozen players, players stuck in disengages, impact blocks, and animations playing in the wrong direction. Run Fits and Pursuit Tuning to improve effectiveness of QB contain defenders vs. play-action bootlegs. Tuning to improve man coverage effectiveness vs. Jet Motion, specifically for the defender to continue following the motion through the snap. Playbooks Adjusted Wildcat and Flexbone plays, including QB Power Swing, Direct Snap, and FB Dive logic. Split Flexbone FB Toss into two types: FB Sweep (Pin-Pull) and FB Zone Toss (Outside Zone). Fixed blocking issues on rocket toss, Buck Sweep, and Pistol PA HB Wheel plays. Improved motion consistency across play sets and fixed alignment issues in no-huddle formations. Disabled Playmaker flip on Flexbone FB Dive to prevent broken handoffs. Added new content to Army, Navy, Air Force, and Option Generic offenses, including new Flexbone and Wingback formations. Introduced GoGo Generic Offense and expanded Air Raid Generic Offense. Updated play call suggestions to avoid duplicate play types in the same row. Added Goal Line set to UTSA and made Singleback Spread default to 4WR. Fixed pitch man behavior on option plays and improved backside edge blocking on RPOs and Play Action. Synced Play Action Bootlegs with their paired runs and gave all PA Walk plays Inside Zone fake blocking. Improved deep PoCo route to better sell the Post. Reduced snap delay on Reload and Dbl Mtn plays (where QB/HB swap). Dynasty We’ve added two new awards, which are both available in the Trophy Room The Shaun Alexander award was added, which is given to the best Freshman of the Year. The Jet Award, which is given to the best special teams returner. To help players make better decisions when determining who to target in Transfer Portal, Career Wear and Tear is now shown in the Player Module while viewing the Transfer Portal spreadsheet. Corrected an issue with lighting and game times. Now, in-game times properly reflect local time. This means that a 9pm Eastern Time game in Hawai’i will correctly be at 3pm local time. Added new scheduling rules for non-Eastern time teams to ensure their games start at the correct times locally. Added additional rules reflecting the limitations on day games in Arizona in the early fall months. Added the team uniforms to player portraits on full screen notifications. Tuned Ability Pre-requisites to better align with positional archetypes. Pocket Disruptor for Pure Power and Power Rusher no longer requires Power Moves Pocket Disruptor for Speed Rusher no longer requires Finesse Moves Updated Skill Groups for many archetypes to ensure they have access to every ability for their archetype, especially Toughness. Exception for the Dot! ability on Gadget Receivers for balance purposes. In rare situations, a Gadget Receiver can still be generated with Dot!. Multiple fixes to Playing Style Grades across various archetypes. Updated Box Specialist to use Defensive Rush Yards Against Per Game Update Signal Caller Playing Style Rank to use the correct ordering Increased Speed and Acceleration for Safeties in Recruit Generation, especially 3 and 4 Star Coverage Specialists and Hybrids. The Pro Potential My School grade now properly updates after Draft Results and before the start of the Transfer Portal. Increased the number of players in the Transfer Portal who start in the Open Status. When in the Records Screen, switching between National/Season/Game tabs will now maintain your current filter allowing you to easily view a team or conference’s career, season, and game records. Updated Boise State rushing TD Record, Big Ten rushing yard record, CUSA receptions record, and Missouri State rushing TD records. SuperSim Reduced the number of pass attempts for AI teams. Increased Yards Per Catch for teams with elite WR1s. Increased designed QB Run Plays to ensure that running QBs more closely align to their real-world Rush Attempt averages. Added Weekly Summary Notification to alert when a player is visiting that week. Fixed an issue where non-user coaches could appear as “Vacant” in the Schemes & Playbooks screen. Fixed an issue where you would be unable to change a player's position after viewing their player card. Fixed an issue where team win percentage did not include bowl games. This also fixes a related issue where the winning seasons coach stat was not incrementing properly. Setting the Player Edit Permission setting to Commissioner no longer allows non-commissioner users to edit the height and weight of their players. When exiting the auto subs screen, you will now be prompted with a popup asking if you want to save your changes Updated team’s Athletic Facilities and Brand Exposure My School grades. Fixed an issue causing TeamBuilder My School grades not to align with website grades late in the season. Add the Strategist archetype icon to the Player Module Dealbreaker sub-panel when a player’s dealbreaker has been lowered due to the Lower The Bar ability. Fixed an issue where FCS teams showed under the ACC filter when selecting an opponent in Custom Schedules. Fixed an issue in Staff Moves where the coach module would display the coach’s record with their new school as their record with their previous school. It now correctly shows 0-0. Fixed an issue in Custom Conferences where you could add a school to the conference they are already in. Custom Schedules now show the correct location for neutral site games. Added a counter to Formation Subs displaying the total number of subs that have been made. Road To Glory When adding a school to your Top Schools List, you will now see if that school has offered you a scholarship regardless of whether or not they are in your Top 10. Fixed an issue where offers would be given or revoked when advancing to Signing Day. Reduced the amount of test readiness needed to pass your exams to more closely align with Scrape By. Note, if you already have a low GPA, you will still need to get higher than “Scrape By” in order to stay eligible. Reduced the amount of Wear and Tear damage Incurred from Training. Medal Thresholds for Gap Drill for Cornerbacks have been reduced. Player Grade Widget and Pause Menu Stats Screen now show Total Touchdowns. Added Player Feedback Notifications when exiting High School Games. Added new Sponsorship Deals to be earned via NIL. Fixed an issue where you could not graduate in 3 years if you redshirted your first season. Fixed an issue allowing you to spend energy points on leadership and brand even when the meters were already full. Fixed an issue where your current school appeared as one of the schools you could transfer to in the transfer portal. Fixed an issue with MIKE linebacker not displaying properly in the Trophy Room. Ultimate Team Fixed an issue where the Event rules screen was not displaying properly. Fixed an issue where upgraded items were missing the BND tag until you back out and re-enter the My items . Fixed an issue where Event: Prerequisites: House Rules were not displaying properly. Fixed a navigation issue in Team Select: Line up: In Event Requirements. Fixed an issue when looking to upgrade Keldric Faulk using the tokens, all items are present instead of just the usable items. Fixed an issue where Users wallet disappeared after viewing the rewards for a field pass. Fixed an issue in Challenges where Spamming the 'Select' button prompts an error message and leads the User back to the Main Menu. Fixed an issue where sections tabs were missing from the lineup screen. Activating a X-factor ability after flipping items in the Lineup menu now will not reset the flip. Fixed an issue where users were returned in the challenge category selection screen after exiting from the milestone screen. Pack Helper will recommend set completion over lineup improvements when the user has an empty lineup active. Fixed an issue where players that are contributing to team requirements did not display their position and depth. Fixed an issue where the scoring drive banner showed the wrong time during UT challenges. The difficulty bonus percentage now is not cut off on the study hall progress screen. Fixed an issue where the 'BND' & 'LTD' badges were both black with white text. Fixed an issue where the 'Lineup Needs Editing' dialog box was not visible in Events with long lists of Team Requirements. Fixed an issue where event rewards were not being displayed for Gauntlet Fixed an issue where the Generate best lineup for special teams did not put a player in at kick off specialists. Fixed an issue when entering the substitution screen from team OVR requirements available players did not populate. Fixed an issue where items were loading very slow when switching between all tabs from the "Item Manager/My Items" screen. Fixed an issue where No Coin Image would appear in "Rewards" when user Earns them in the field pass Fixed an issue where arrows were not shown correctly in the challenge info screen. Fixed an issue where the "Getting to know the basics" Challenge Text overlaps. Fixed an issue where no rewards would appear in Online H2H when pressing Progress & Rewards button Fixed an issue where the player image will appear blank on the Level 50 Field Pass for Season 1 item 87 OVR BDN Xavier Scott. Fixed an issue where accepting an invite from UT Play a Friend squads lobby to a Head to Head squads lobby. Two RS callouts are now present in the Progress & Rewards screen when having at least 6 games in the Results box. Fixed an issue where users received "You lost the auction" pop up when an auction expires even if the user didn't bid. Fixed an issue where the game would crash after leaving a MUT Challenge Lobby. Fixed an issue where the user could not navigate between Team Pass tabs after accessing the Team Pass menu while inside the Compare screen in Ultimate Team Fixed an issue where the Team Pass Objective screen would refresh 3-4 times before the user can function when accessing from a player card customization item. Fixed an issue where Pack Helper options were not displayed when receiving Jerome Baker after completing a challenge. Fixed an issue in "The Run" Game 2, the CPU automatically starts with 3 points, which incorrectly deducts 40 points from the player's leaderboard score. Fixed an issue where invited players received an error pop up and were removed from lobby when pressing ready while being transitioned to lobby UT Play A Friend. Game history is now shown in the Season Rewards screen in Progress & Rewards. Multiple UI elements now disappear when the user returns from the Progress & Rewards screen. Presentation Players/Equipment/Uniforms Adjusted neck length and helmet fitment on most all players. Adjusted hair helmet on placement for players with longer hair. New alternate uniform elements for Ohio, Notre Dame, Boston College, Tennessee, Tulane, Tulsa, Iowa State, Mississippi State, Cincinnati. New updated or added Home and/or Away sets/elements for Washington, Liberty, West Virginia, Toledo, Georgia Tech, Houston, Tulane, Western Michigan, New Mexico State, Temple, Cincinnati. Adjusted current uniform assets for Central Michigan (Helmet), North Carolina (Numbers), Marshall (Collar). Audio Crowd Updates Increased crowd reactions to big moments . Home Field Advantage pre-play swell tuning for different stadium attendance sizes. Updated Crowd Assets for general pregame and RTG First Person runouts. Deep Pass anticipation reactions updated to improve timing. Tuning on field collision sounds. Adjusted UI Sounds across multiple modes. New Crowd Themes for the following schools: Note: New crowd themes included in this update are exclusive to which schools you are playing against and the time of year. Akron, Appalachian State, Arizona State, Auburn, Baylor, Boise State, Bowling Green, Charlotte, Coastal Carolina, Colorado, Delaware, East Carolina, Eastern Michigan, Florida International, Georgia Southern, Hawaii, Houston, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kansas State, Kennesaw State, Louisiana Tech, Louisville, Marshall, Maryland, Memphis, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri State, Northern Illinois, Northwestern, Oklahoma, Penn State, Rutgers, SMU, Tennessee, Texas State, Texas Tech, UL Monroe, Utah, Utah State, Virginia, Wake Forest, West Virginia, Wisconsin. Music/SFX/Chants Added the Oregon Football Theme. Added Mr. Brightside to Missouri. Added All Hail Washington State post Washington State Touchdowns. Added Music to the VOLS chant at Tennessee. Added Pump it Up to Michigan after PAT on First TD. Update to Good Ole Song for Virginia. Added more chants for Arizona. Added SFX for Missouri State Cannon. Commentary Updates Fixes for Fair Catch inconsistency. Fixes around PAT follow-ups. Adjustments to Commentary Banter frequency. Adjustments to Commentary intros around ranked games. New Mascots Appalachian State - Yosef Virginia - Cavman UTEP - Paydirt Pete James Madison - Duke Dog Memphis - Pouncer Field Art Updates Added new Kansas “Waving Wheat” End Zone Design Various corrections for other Field Art on other teams. Thank you all so much for your continued passion and dedication to College Football 26, we have more updates coming in the future that we are excited to share with you. We will see you on the next Campus Huddle. — The Entire College Football 26 Development Team [Source]Week 6 Top 25 Poll
WHAT IS THE TOP 25 POLL Each week of the regular season, the College Football 26 Top 25 poll will be updated in-game to reflect the performances from last week’s slate. This poll is a unique ranking list straight from the College Football 26 studio. Hop into CFB26 today, and play as some of the biggest movers from this past week! BIGGEST MOVERS Memphis | #19 The Memphis Tigers make their debut at #19 after dominating in wins against their first 6 games. They have some tough matchups rest of season as their schedule is primarily conference play. A matchup against USF on October 25th will be one to watch in the coming weeks. Virginia | #20 Virginia cracked the Top 25 for the first time last week after a huge upset victory against Florida State. They were battle tested in an OT win against Louisville. They continue to display a balanced team across both sides of the ball in ACC play. Georgia Tech | #14 Georgia Tech was on bye this week but with several schools losing this weekend, they jumped up the polls given their undefeated status. They’ve been contested in matchups but Haynes King has found ways to get them over the hump and in the win column. WEEK 6 POLL Ohio State Buckeyes (-) Oregon Ducks (-) Miami Hurricanes (-) Ole Miss Rebels (-) Oklahoma Sooners (-) Indiana Hoosiers (-) Texas A&M Aggies (-) Alabama Crimson Tide (+3) Texas Tech Red Raiders (+3) Georgia Bulldogs (+2) Tennessee Volunteers (+3) LSU Tigers (+3) Missouri Tigers (+4) Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (+5) Illinois Fighting Illini (+5) Michigan Wolverines (+5) Notre Dame Fighting Irish (+5) Iowa State Cyclones (-8) Memphis Tigers (Unranked) Virginia Cavaliers (+5) BYU Cougars (+2) Vanderbilt Commodores (-6) Arizona State Sun Devils (+1) Cincinnati Bearcats (Unranked) Florida State Seminoles (-7) Dropped Out: Penn State, Texas [Source]College Football 26 - Dynasty & Team Builder Deep Dive
Hey football fans, We've got some highlights from the Dynasty & Team Builder Deep Dive to share with you! Be sure to check out the full Dynasty & Team Builder Deep Dive for full details. BUILDING ON THE FOUNDATION When we set out to design College Football 25, we had a multi-year vision for what we wanted Dynasty Mode to become. That journey began by laying the foundation under three core pillars: Build Your Coach, Build Your Program, and Deliver the World of College Football. Build Your Coach: This encompasses the decisions you make on your coaching journey to the top of the college football world. Whether that’s starting as a coordinator at a small school and making a name for yourself before getting that first head coaching job, or starting as a head coach at your dream school. Every decision you make on your journey matters. Build Your Program: As the old saying goes, “to win in College Football it’s not the X’s and the O’s, it’s the Jimmy’s and the Joe’s”. Recruiting is the lifeblood of College Football and having a consistent winner means you need a roster that is built to reload rather than rebuild. That all starts on the high school recruiting trail, but in modern College Football roster retention and utilizing the Transfer Portal are instrumental in your ability to field a championship team. Deliver the World of College Football: The College Football landscape continues to evolve. In College Football 26, we’ve pushed to reflect the ever-changing reality of the sport, from custom conferences and scheduling to protected opponents and playoff structure. Whether you’re staying true to tradition or reshaping the map, the world of college football is yours to define. College Football 26 represents Year 2 of that vision — a year focused on building on the foundation we set and adding meaningful depth to each pillar. It’s about evolving Dynasty while staying true to what makes it special, and delivering on the feedback we’ve heard from our incredibly passionate community. Just like last year, we spent countless hours talking with community members, college football experts, and coaches. We also spent a ton of time watching Dynasty live streams, program rebuilds, wishlist videos, and of course reading thousands of message board posts and tweets. A large part of our research was focused not just on what is discussed, but how the mode is actually played and experienced by our community. Because as we said last year and still strongly believe today — our team has one singular motto: “Satisfy the Core Community” because “This is THEIR Game”. BUILD YOUR COACH At the heart of Dynasty Mode is your coach. Every decision, every upgrade, and every hire helps define your journey to the top of the college football world and the legacy you leave behind. Last year, we talked at length about what we learned from studying coaches in depth. No coach is great at everything, and there’s no single path to becoming a great coach. That belief continues to shape our approach in College Football 26, and remains central to everything we’ve built. This year, we’ve focused on deepening that experience, introducing more meaningful decision points and further emphasizing that every decision matters. CREATE YOUR COACH When starting your Dynasty, just like last year you’ll choose between creating your own coach or stepping into the role of an existing one. This year, existing coaches are now authentic real-life head coaches and coordinators, with more than 300 authentic coaches. Each one comes equipped with their authentic playbook, scheme, playcalling tendencies, historical career stats, and archetypes and abilities that reflect their coaching skillset. Throughout your Dynasty, you will have the opportunity to compete against these authentic coaches in-game and on the recruiting trail. As described in the Gameplay Deep Dive, when you play them on Saturday’s, you can expect their playcalling and tendencies to match their real world counterpart, adding a new layer of immersion. Of course, you’ll also have the opportunity to poach them and bring them onto your staff in the Coaching Carousel. We’ve also introduced coach demeanor and stance customization. Is your coach cool, calm, and collected? Or are they the high-energy, emotionally charged leader that fires up the sideline? Your choice will influence how your coach stands and acts throughout the game giving your coaching persona even more personality on the field. COACH PROGRESSION From the beginning, our design intent for our RPG archetype based abilities and progression system has been that no coach can be great at everything. How you build your coach and manage your staff matters. Your coordinators either complement your strengths or shore up your deficiencies. This intent still holds true in College Football 26 and we have continued to expand upon it. Last year, we saw players hitting the level cap too early — maxing out progression well before the later years of their Dynasty, which was not what we intended. While we still believe you cannot be great at everything, your coaching journey should evolve over time, with new decisions and challenges emerging each season. In College Football 26, the maximum coach level has been increased from 50 to 100. Additionally, we’ve completely rebalanced the amount of XP each goal earns to better reflect its frequency and difficulty. We’ve also introduced a new level progression curve designed to provide early momentum while creating a much longer tail of growth. You’ll still see meaningful development in the early years, but reaching the top now requires sustained success across the full arc of your coaching career. COACH ARCHETYPES While progression is the engine of your coaching journey, archetypes are the blueprint for how your coach grows and where your strengths lie. In College Football 26, we’ve made a number of updates to how archetypes are unlocked, balanced, and expanded — all with the goal of making each coaching path more strategic and distinct. To start, the three base archetypes — Recruiter, Motivator, and Tactician — now require a minimum coach level to unlock. This change encourages more focused investment early in your career, making that initial archetype choice even more meaningful. It’s no longer a quick jump between archetypes — instead, your coach will grow into their identity over time. This helps reinforce the rock-paper-scissors relationship not just between archetypes, but also between you and your coordinators. Choosing a staff that complements — or counters — your strengths is more important than ever. COACH CAROUSEL We introduced the foundation of the carousel last year, and in College Football 26, we’ve added more polish, feedback, and quality-of-life improvements to make it easier to track movement and make smarter staff decisions. You’ll now receive notifications when your coordinators accept or decline job offers, as well as alerts when one is poached for a new opportunity. Whether they’re leaving for a promotion or jumping ship unexpectedly, you’ll stay informed and ready to react. FILLING OUT YOUR TROPHY ROOM Every great Dynasty leaves behind a legacy — now you have a place to showcase it. The Trophy Room is your central hub for tracking the championships, rivalries, and awards you collect throughout your journey. Whether you're chasing your first conference title or building a Heisman factory, the Trophy Room keeps a running history of your program’s most meaningful moments. As you play through Dynasty, every time you win a rivalry game, bowl game, conference championship, national championship, or earn an individual award, you will receive a notification and the trophy will be added to your Trophy Room. You can access it anytime from the Dynasty Hub, or from the main menu and your global profile. Each Dynasty you create has its own dedicated Trophy Room tied to your coach, tracking every trophy you've earned. For team-based achievements, you’ll see the season year, team, opponent, and final score of the game. For individual awards, you’ll see the player who won, the team they were on, and the year they took home the hardware. You can also select any trophy to view more detailed information — including the trophy’s history and significance in college football. In total, there are more than 160 rivalry, bowl, and individual award trophies to collect. Whether you’re flexing your fifth Heisman, third natty, or just looking back on the legends that defined your Dynasty, the Trophy Room is built to celebrate your legacy. Every Dynasty has its greats — those unforgettable players who become stories we tell for years. Now, their names and moments live on, immortalized forever in your Trophy Room. And it’s not just limited to Dynasty. The Trophy Room is global across all modes, including Road to Glory, Play Now, and Road to the College Football Playoff — so no matter how you play, your accomplishments are remembered. BUILD YOUR PROGRAM Talent acquisition and roster management remain at the forefront of College Football. How you approach building and keeping your roster has never been more important. The transfer portal continues to grow and evolve, becoming an even bigger force in shaping programs across the country. Whether you're reloading through high school recruiting or retooling through the portal, your success depends on how well you execute your strategy and continue to evolve with players ever changing expectations. In College Football 26, we still have the same core goals in mind — making recruiting feel personal, differentiating players and regions, and making the portal even more authentically unpredictable. From the way prospects evaluate schools to how expectations evolve over time, building your program now means more than just landing talent — it’s about understanding it, developing it, and keeping it. THE TRANSFER PORTAL Some schools see a mass exodus. Others stay almost completely untouched. That’s the unpredictability of the modern transfer portal. In College Football 26, we’ve pushed to fully capture the essence and chaos that defines this era of roster movement. College Football 25 laid the groundwork, but this year, we wanted the portal to feel authentically unpredictable, forcing tough decisions around team retention, roster construction, and win-now urgency. Now, you can expect to see a consistent pool of around 2,000 players entering the portal. As a part of this rebalance, we have also changed how we assign star ratings to transfer prospects. In College Football 25, players were assigned their star rating based on their OVR. Now, star rating is more heavily influenced by a player's position and class year. For example, an 85 OVR freshman quarterback will be scored higher than an 85 OVR senior guard. TRANSFER PORTAL CUSTOMIZATION With Dynamic Dealbreakers, the addition of the Conference Prestige dealbreaker, and improved Playing Time logic, the College Football 26 Transfer Portal is more reactive and unpredictable. While this brings the chaos of modern college football to life, we also want you to have the tools to customize that experience and make it your own. Whether you want a wild, modern-era portal or a throwback to the days when transferring was far less common, you now have full control over how the portal behaves in your Dynasty. New settings include: Max Transfers Per Team: Adjust how many players can transfer from a single team (0–30). Setting this to 0 disables the portal entirely for a more traditional experience. Transfer Probability (User Teams): Scale how likely players on user-controlled teams are to transfer if their dealbreaker is violated. Transfer Probability (CPU Teams): Do the same for CPU teams, allowing you to align or differentiate how the AI handles player retention. MY SCHOOL At the foundation of every program is one question: What is your identity? The My School grades define who your program is and what its strengths and weaknesses are across 14 core categories. It’s one of the clearest separators between powerhouse programs and those still trying to find their footing. In addition to the Playing Time improvements we outlined earlier — which now consider actual snaps played — we’ve made several key updates across the My School system to deepen realism and improve differentiation between programs. First, we’ve rebalanced the grade curve across all 14 categories. Fewer teams now sit in the A or B range, meaning most schools will fall somewhere between D and C — creating more visible separation between the haves and have-nots, and making meaningful improvement something you’ll need to earn over time. One of the biggest changes this year comes in Pro Potential. Previously, this grade estimated a program’s ability to produce NFL talent based on the current roster. Now, Pro Potential is based on a school’s historical draft results over the past four seasons, and it’s tracked by position. This means you can now clearly see which schools are consistently sending talent to the next level — and who truly deserves the title of Wide Receiver U. PLAYER PROGRESSION Player development is at the core of building a successful program. While talent acquisition is without question the most important thing in College Football, inability to develop your players will keep them from reaching their full potential and prevent you from realizing your dreams of winning a National Championship. In College Football 26, we’ve rebalanced and expanded how progression works to create more player differentiation, realism, and separation between programs. Living in the Iron paradise At times in College Football 25 players would go long stretches without any progression, only to suddenly take a big leap when they finally leveled up a skill group. In College Football 26 we have increased the number of skill group levels from 10 to 20, allowing for more gradual and natural progression. A player’s Development Trait also plays a bigger role in offseason progression. While there’s still variability in how much a player develops during the offseason, players with Impact, Star, and Elite development traits now have a higher minimum amount they will progress. This increases the likelihood that players with a better development trait will progress more than players with a normal trait. Every year we see freshmen arrive on campus and undergo significant physical changes during their first season. Now, when your players hit the Iron Paradise and put in the #work during the offseason you will also see physical changes to their body. Players will now gain weight during offseason progression. The amount they gain is influenced by their player position and year in school. This simulates the real world difference in physical maturity between a freshman and senior. Lastly, your school’s Athletic Facilities grade in My School now increases the amount of progression your players receive. No different than the real world where the schools with the best sports performance and nutrition programs seemingly perform at a higher level than the rest. The higher your Athletic Facilities grade is, the bigger your player progression boost will be. Athletic Facilities are just another factor that contributes to long-term program building and highlights the divide between powerhouse programs and those still finding their footing. Physical Abilities As Scott described in the Gameplay Deep Dive, we’ve introduced new physical and mental abilities this year. In addition to the new physical abilities, we’ve also modified the requirements to unlock physical ability tiers. Previously, all physical abilities required a single attribute level to unlock each tier, for example 95 Toughness to unlock Platinum Workhorse. Now, some abilities like Shifty require two attribute ratings to upgrade them. For example, Platinum Shifty now requires both 97 Change of Direction and 96 Acceleration for a Wide Receiver. These added thresholds make top-tier abilities even rarer — further increasing player differentiation. We’ve also completely overhauled our archetype system, introducing new player types and physical ability combinations that better reflect the diversity of players across college football. More on that later. From Impact Player to Star Player performance during the season now plays a huge role in their long-term potential. If a player absolutely cooks during the season, they can now upgrade their Development Trait during offseason progression. Performance is determined by their season stat line relative to their position. Upgrading a Development Trait is not guaranteed, and the better a player's current trait is, the harder it becomes to move up. For example, moving from Normal to Impact is more likely than jumping from Star to Elite. You can increase the odds of players upgrading their development trait by purchasing the Gainz Getter ability within the CEO archetype. If a player does upgrade their development trait, you’ll receive a notification and it will also be highlighted in the Training Results screen. Training Results Speaking of Training Results, this screen has undergone a major overhaul to give you better visibility into the growth and progression of each player during the offseason. For each player, you can now see exactly how much each attribute increased. Additionally, the player module on the right hand side displays their weight gain, any abilities that upgraded, and if their development trait upgraded. Manual Progression If you’re looking for more direct control over how your players develop, you can enable manual progression in league settings. Manual progression is an individual team setting, so it does not require all members of an Online Dynasty to have the same setting. If you choose to enable manual progression, your players will earn skill points like normal, however they will never automatically spend them to progress their attributes and abilities. You can see how many skill points each player has accumulated in the player module anywhere a player is shown in a spreadsheet or within their Player Card. To manually progress a player, just access their Player Card. Within the Player Card, you can spend their skill points to purchase ratings and physical abilities. If you only want to manually progress specific players, you can do so — and then automatically progress the rest of your roster by holding Triangle on the roster screen. This will automatically progress all players who have skill points remaining using the standard autoprogression logic. Manual progression can offer a significant advantage in shaping player growth, so when it's turned on, it comes with a default 25% progression nerf to help maintain balance. This nerf is fully customizable by the Dynasty Commissioner. It can be turned off completely or increased to 100% to fully prevent users from auto progressing players. POSITION CHANGES Position changes are a key part of building and evolving a roster in Dynasty Mode, but transitioning to a new role isn’t always seamless. When a player moves to a new role they must learn a new position and skillset — one that may not directly translate from their previous experience. While they can certainly grow into the role over time, that development doesn’t happen overnight. To better reflect, now when a player changes positions, they will only retain abilities that are shared between their previous archetype and the new one. Their skill group caps are also adjusted based on how closely the new position relates to their original one. For example, shifting a running back to wide receiver results in a smaller drop in development ceiling than moving that same player to offensive tackle. The farther apart the positions are in terms of required traits and responsibilities, the steeper the learning curve – which naturally limits their potential and current abilities. As you evaluate changing a player's position, the player module on the right side of the screen will display a preview of which abilities the player would retain at the selected position. The player’s development trait will stay the same, ensuring a consistent growth rate as they adapt to their new role. MANAGING WEAR AND TEAR Much like a boxer, a football player’s body can only take so many hits before it starts to break down. It’s not just about whether a player is injured — it’s about how their body responds to the physical demands of the season. Every hit adds up and as our friend OG says “not all hits are created equal”. Some players are able to endure the wear and tear over the long term, while others wear down under the weight of repeated impacts. Season and Career Health In College Football 26 every player now has season and career health pools that determine how much wear and tear damage they can recover in a single season and over the course of their career. Each time a player recovers wear and tear damage, it draws from these pools. Once the season health pool is depleted, that player can no longer recover wear and tear damage until the offseason when they will fully recover. We saw the effects of season health play out in last year’s National Championship game. Entering the matchup, Notre Dame’s quarterback had logged a career-high 167 rushing attempts on the season — 53 of those coming in just the last three games. On the opening drive, he led an 18-play, 75-yard touchdown march, carrying the ball nine more times. That drive alone added a significant amount of wear and tear, and when combined with the workload he’d taken on all season, it was clear his body had started to break down. From that point forward, his performance dipped noticeably — and he wasn’t the same player for the rest of the game. How Does Season Health Change Season to Season? At the end of each season, the pool replenishes, however, the size of the pool is determined by how full it was at the end of the season. For example, a player who finishes the season with their health pool nearly empty will begin the next year with a significantly smaller season health pool. This reflects the physical wear they carried over the course of the season. Conversely, a player who finished the year with a pool that is almost full will begin the next year with an almost identical health pool size. You will be able to see the impacts of a player's season health on their career health bar over the course of the season. In effect, you are now having to manage a player’s “career clock”. How heavily a player is used from year to year will significantly impact their longevity, adding a new layer of decision making and wear and tear management week to week and season to season. Where Can I See It? You can view a player’s season health anywhere that wear and tear is displayed. This year we have also updated the player module to include a wear and tear sub panel that can be accessed with the RS. This allows you to quickly view a player's wear and tear health at a glance. Auto Subs Strategy Auto Subs now incorporate wear and tear strategies by position, giving you control over how players are rotated in and out during games based on accumulated wear and tear damage. There are four sub strategies that you can choose from: Keep Fresh: Prioritize rotating players out early to limit accumulated wear and tear damage Normal: Balanced approach that will keep a steady rotation Grind It Out: Players will stay on the field even when they have incurred significant Wear and Tear damage Custom: Create a custom sub in and out wear and tear strategy using sliders Custom Settings As detailed in the Gameplay Deep Dive, we’ve also added a suite of wear and tear sliders that give you full control over how wear and tear behaves across Dynasty and gameplay. These settings let you fine-tune how much wear and tear is applied based on tackle type (such as normal tackles versus hit sticks), how much is recovered during the game (including per play, at quarter breaks, or halftime), and how much players recover during week advances in Dynasty. DELIVERING THE WORLD OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL College football is constantly changing, and Dynasty Mode needs to evolve with it. This year, we’ve added Missouri State and Delaware, expanding to 136 teams you can start your Dynasty with. While we will always look to stay current in the ever changing world of college football, we are also focused on expanding the depth of Dynasty Mode — building a more complete and immersive world through better access to stats, deeper historical tracking, storylines, and ongoing quality of life improvements that make reduce friction in your Dynasty experience. A PART OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL HISTORY One of the most powerful parts of Dynasty mode is looking back — reliving the moments, debating the greats, and remembering the champions that shaped your Dynasties of the past. Whether it’s your boss telling you about his sweet two star recruit that won the three Heismans and a national championship at a small school or arguments with friends over whose team was truly the best, those memories are what make Dynasty mode special. In College Football 26, we’re introducing College Football History, which is accessible from the Stats & Records tab of the Dynasty Hub. This is your hub for the legacy of the sport and your Dynasty — from Yale winning the very first National Championship in 1869 to every moment you create across your 30-year Dynasty. College Football History features: National Champions going back to 1869, including split National Champions Conference Champions dating back to 1896, including historical conferences no longer in existence For each national and conference champion you will be able to see the year they won the championship, their top 25 ranking, season record, and the name of the coach that won the championship. If this was a championship game, you will also be able to see the losing team, their top 25 rank, season record, and the score of the game. 21 Individual player and coach award winners, for example historical Heisman Trophy and Bear Bryant Coach of the Year Winners Within the College Football History you are able to filter the spreadsheet by team and conference. This gives you the ability to see every Heisman winner from Alabama, every SEC team that has reached the national championship game, or simply view every conference champion from the Big Ten or the Pac-12. When viewing conference championships, you will be able to see historical conferences and the evolution of conferences. For example, when you are looking at the Pac-12 conference champions, you will see the conference evolve from PCC, to AAWU, to Pac-8, to Pac-10, and eventually the Pac-12 Conference. As your Dynasty unfolds, this history grows with you. Every national champion, conference champion, winning coach, and award winner is etched into the record books for all 30 seasons. Speaking of awards, in College Football 26 we’ve added 14 authentic awards, including the Maxwell Award and the Walter Camp Award. Additionally, we’ve also rebalanced how defensive stats – in particular tackles, tackles for loss, and sacks – are evaluated in our awards logic. In addition to College Football History, you can now view all of a players awards and accolades from their player card. Within the player card, go to the more tab and then stats. Once you are within the stats screen filter to Awards. This will show all of their individual awards like Heisman Trophies, conference championships, national championship, All-American and All-Conference selections, how many times they have been national and conference player of the week, and their transfer history. NEW POSITIONS AND ARCHETYPES In College Football 26, we’ve overhauled positions and archetypes across the game to bring them in line with the way modern college football is played. Positions have been updated to reflect current-day schemes and terminology. We’ve made key positional updates to reflect how teams align in today’s game. Defensive Ends are now Edge Rushers, and Outside Linebackers are labeled as SAM or WILL, with MIKE replacing Middle Linebacker. These roles better reflect real-world defensive structures and responsibilities. We’ve also introduced support for smarter formation-based movement, so players adjust their alignment based on your defensive front. Additional depth chart updates include Long Snapper (LS), Gadget (GAD) for trick-play specialists, and Nose Tackle, specifically used in 3-4 fronts. We also took a hard look at every archetype in College Football 25 and found that many didn’t fully capture how college players move, play, and contribute. Some players fell between styles, while others had skill sets unique enough to deserve their own identity — for example, a gadget wide receiver. To address this, we’ve expanded to 59 total archetypes, each with its own unique combination of physical abilities. In addition to adding new archetypes, we also reworked our existing ones to better represent the full range of play styles and roles within each position group. Some positions, like Wide Receiver, now feature seven unique archetypes — each designed to capture a distinct play style. Here’s a breakdown of what makes each one unique: Speedster: A pure burner who takes the top off the defense. Not a technician, but lethal in open space. Route Artist: Precise, smooth, and always open. Wins with footwork and timing. Physical Route Runner: Big-bodied and technical, but not fast. Great for contested third downs. Elusive Route Runner: Shifty before and after the catch. Combines smooth routes with elite YAC ability. Gritty Possession: Tough, reliable, and physical. Ideal for option offenses and run blocking on the perimeter. Gadget Receiver: A do-it-all player who might take snaps at QB or RB. Built for trick plays and misdirection. Contested Specialist: Dominates tight coverage. High-points the ball and wins in jump-ball scenarios. These archetypes not only shape how a player performs, but also determine which physical abilities they have access to, creating meaningful gameplay and recruiting variation. Whether you want to recruit a possession guy who seals the edge or a true deep threat to stretch the field, there’s an archetype to match. FORMATION SUBS One of the things that makes college football so dynamic is the variety of formations and alignments across different programs. Each week, college coaches find creative ways to use personnel, designing packages that create mismatches and exploit opponent team weaknesses. Formation Subs bring that same flexibility allowing you to assign specific players to specific formations. This is a great way to take advantage of the new positions archetypes. Within Formation Subs you will be allowed to set up 50 formation subs per team. Subs will persist season to season unless the player leaves the team or you change teams. If you switch playbooks, any formations shared between the old and new playbook will retain their assigned subs. CUSTOM CONFERENCES & PROTECTED OPPONENTS Scheduling in college football has become more complex than ever — and in College Football 26, we’ve revisited how Custom Conferences work to ensure that your scheduling choices hold up across multi-year Dynasties. As part of this reassessment, we identified that some custom conference combinations were mathematically impossible to support within the scheduling system. To maintain long-term schedule integrity, those edge cases have been removed from the custom conference matrix. As a part of Custom Conferences, you can now set Protected Opponents — giving you the ability to lock in annual matchups regardless of divisional alignment. Want to ensure Michigan plays Ohio State every year, no matter how your Big Ten realignment shakes out? Now you can. Most conference configurations can support one or two protected opponents per team, depending on the number of teams in the conference, whether divisions are enabled or disabled, and the number of conference games played each season. Some conference configurations and setups will not be able to support Protected Opponents due to scheduling being mathematically impossible. To use Protected Opponents, open the Conference Rules screen by pressing Square/X on the conference you want to customize. Here, you can enable or disable Protected Opponents along with other key conference settings. From that screen, press Triangle/Y to access the Protected Opponents screen, where you can view current protected matchups and assign or edit them for each team. If you don’t feel like manually setting all of the protected opponents in a conference, you can press R3 to regenerate all of the protected opponents in the conference. Whether you’re building a new super-conference from scratch or preserving the rivalries that define college football, Protected Opponents give you the tools to keep the most meaningful games on the schedule every year. SCHEDULING UPDATES All known future season games, including kickoff games, have been added through 2040, ensuring that teams follow their actual schedules year over year. This includes updates to annual games like Florida vs. Georgia, which will no longer be played in Jacksonville for the 2026 and 2027 seasons. We’ve also updated conference rotations for both the MAC and Conference USA to reflect their latest real-world alignment and expansion. COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF The world of college football is ever changing and in College Football 26 we are excited that you will have the opportunity to experience the new playoff format in Dynasty before you experience it in real life. This offseason, the College Football Playoff has changed its format so that now the top four teams in the CFP rankings receive first round byes. Previously, the byes were awarded to the four highest ranked conference champions. QUALITY OF LIFE We’ve added a number of improvements that make it easy to navigate, manage and access key information within your Dynasty. Quick Access to Player Info: Anytime a player appears in a spreadsheet, you can now press Triangle/(Y) to open their Player Card or R3/RS to view their stats and award history. Player Stats and Attributes Everywhere: Now anywhere a player appears in a spreadsheet you will be able to see their season stats on the player module. This makes it easy to compare award candidates on the award watchlists. The second new panel is player attributes, which shows six attributes that are key to the player’s position. Development Traits in the Player Module: In addition to the two new player module panels, you can now view a player’s Dev Trait in the Abilities sub-panel. Note, the development trait will only be viewable for players on your team. Quick Access to Team Schedules: Within the Conference Standings and Top 25 Polls screens, you can now Press Triangle/(Y) on a team view their full schedule and quickly compare resumes. Members Tab: In Dynasty Hub we have added a new tab called Members. The Members tab lets you see every user in your Online Dynasty or every coach character in your Offline Dynasty. For each team it shows their username, team, top 25 rank, current week matchup and result, platform, online status, and whether they’re ready to advance. As a Commissioner, the Members tab is now where you will make all of your Commissioner actions like:: Adding or removing users Toggling Auto Pilot Promoting or demoting other commissioners Transferring Dynasty ownership to another user Inviting new users to join the Dynasty CROSSPLAY College Football 26 Online Dynasty now supports cross-play across Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5. You can run a 32 person Online Dynasty with friends regardless of platform. Within the Members tab, you’ll be able to see each user's system. To use cross-play, you’ll need an internet connection, the latest game updates, and a valid EA Account. Cross-play is enabled by default in Online Dynasties but can be turned off at any time by the Commissioner in League Settings. For more info, check out the [Cross-Play FAQ for full details]. PREORDER BONUS To give players a head start on building their program, all preorders of College Football 26 will receive a bonus of 100 Coach Points* when you start a Dynasty. This bonus applies to every Dynasty you start, and is in addition to the 1,000 Coach Points you can earn over time through progression — giving you an early edge when shaping your coaching identity. We also know that not every league wants to start with these bonuses, so Commissioners will have the option to enable or disable preorder bonuses within league settings. IT’S THE LITTLE THINGS It’s the little things that bring everything together — subtle touches that elevate the experience. Here are a few little things that we have added this year: Dynamic Time of Day: As Christian described in the Presentation Deep Dive College Football 26 introduces Dynamic Time of Day. Within Dynasty mode, the calendar date will impact the sun positioning and lighting. Now, a 5:00pm game in September will be brighter with a higher sun when compared to a 5:00pm game in November at the same stadium. Super Sim Tempo Adjustements: Teams who run up tempo style of play will now have an increased number of snaps during their game better reflecting their style of play. Broken Records Feedback: When a player on your team breaks a single game, season, or career record, you will now receive a full screen takeover celebrating the achievement. Coach Stats: Within the Coach Stats screen you can now see offensive and defensive coordinator stats. Force Win Update: When forcing a win or loss it now says the name of the team you are forcing a win for so you no longer have to guess which team is home or away. Combined Opponent Record: When viewing a team’s schedule, you can now see their combined opponent record giving you a quick snapshot of their strength of schedule. Advance Week Confirmation: A confirmation popup will now appear when you go to advance to the next week, helping prevent accidental clicks that could cost you a national championship. Sim to Points: When advancing the week you can now sim to any week in the season rather than only specific weeks. Redshirt Updates: Players can now play in postseason games without them counting against their redshirt eligibility. Additionally, now when you redshirt a player, it will not reset the entire depth chart. Instead, it will only alter the positions that player was in the depth chart for. Scouting Ability Info: If you’d like to know more about what an ability is when scouting a player, you can highlight the ability on the right side panel and it will display a tooltip informing you what that ability does. Increased Spreadsheet Row Count: We’ve increased the number of rows you can see in multiple spreadsheet screens. The Prospect List and Transfer Portal spreadsheets now display 600 rows instead of 300. The player season and career stats screens now display 700 rows of stats giving you better insight into the nations best players. TEAM BUILDER When we launched Team Builder last year, we were blown away by the creativity and passion from the community. It was incredible to watch players not only build their own teams, but also help others bring their fantasy creations to life with templates and other assets. We loved seeing everything you put together and we can’t wait to see what you build next. Just like Dynasty Mode, Team Builder is part of a multi-year vision for us — one where we continue to expand and deepen the experience over time. Last year was about laying the foundation. We launched Team Builder as a Beta and now we are removing that tag. Our team has been hard at work polishing and improving the overall site performance. Team Builder now has a completely new look and the site is 2X faster. Overall render performance is greatly improved, so Team Builder will now work on a wider array of devices and lower end machines. In addition to performance updates, College Football 26 was about building on the foundation we built with even tighter integration into Dynasty and more customization. In College Football 25, you were limited to 10 custom images per team. In College Football 26, you now have an upload limit of 5 MB per team. This means you can upload as many custom images and textures as you want until you hit the 5 MB limit, increasing your creative power. IMPORT TEAMS FROM COLLEGE FOOTBALL 25 We know how much time and creativity you poured into your Team Builder teams last year and we wanted to ensure you could bring your College Football 25 creations directly into College Football 26 without having to start over from scratch. With College Football 26, you can import your teams directly from College Football 25. From the Team Builder, press the Import button in the top-right corner, which will open a dropdown asking you which title you would like to import from. After selecting College Football 25, you’ll see a list of every team you created in CFB25. Pick the team you want to bring forward, and you’ll be taken to the Edit Team page. Here, we’ll flag any assets or details that couldn’t carry over from last year’s game — and give you the chance to make adjustments before you republish. Make sure you take a few moments to fill out the new Team Builder features we’ve added this year. If you do not make any changes, your team will receive the default values for those features. Once your team’s ready for primetime, hit Submit, and your creation will be live and available for download in College Football 26. DEFINING YOUR PROGRAM In Dynasty, all teams have a set of My School grades that define who they are as a program. Are they great at academics? Are they a traditional powerhouse? Within the Program tab, you’ll now be able to choose your starting grades by selecting from a list of unique templates, each representing a different school identity. Whether you’re a Powerhouse, a Pro Factory, or a Cupcake trying to establish yourself, there's a foundation that fits your vision. Once you pick a template, you’ll see your projected Team Prestige and My School grades. Some of these grades will show up as exact values, while others appear as ranges — and that’s by design. Several elements of your team setup can influence how these grades shake out. For example, your Stadium Atmosphere grade will adjust based on the size of the stadium you select, and your Championship Contender grade depends on which team you replace in Dynasty Mode — since you’ll inherit their preseason ranking. Other attributes like Coach Stability, Coach Prestige, and Conference Prestige won’t come from your template at all. Instead, they’ll reflect your coach setup when you start your Dynasty and where you choose to place your team in Custom Conferences. ENHANCED ROSTER EDITING Roster editing now lives in its own dedicated tab, and it has been enhanced with deeper customization designed to give you more control over each player on your team. One of the biggest feedback points we heard from the community was that it was difficult to assess how good or bad a player and team were when you were editing the roster. In College Football 26, you will be able to see your team’s Overall, Offensive and Defensive ratings at all times at the top of the website. These will update in real time as you make changes. When viewing an individual player, you will be able to see their Overall Rating (OVR), so you always know the impact of each edit. Bio & Appearance When editing a player, there are now two editing tabs: Bio and Skill Ratings & Abilities. In the Bio tab, you can modify a player’s general information and appearance. Within the Bio tab we have added several new editable fields: First and last name Previous Redshirt (i.e., has the player already used their redshirt year) High school star rating Dealbreaker As we talked about in our Dynasty discussion, all players now have Dynamic Dealbreakers, so the Dealbreaker threshold will be determined when you import the team into Dynasty mode based on the player’s final OVR Skill Ratings & Abilities Within the Skill Ratings & Abilities tab, you will be able to have more control how good (or bad) each player is. This year we have added the following editing capabilities: Player Archetype: This determines which five physical abilities are available for that player. Development Trait: Choose how fast a player develops over time. Player Potential: Players can now have a potential of Low, Medium, or High. This will set the player’s skill group caps, which determine a player's ceiling or how high they can progress a given attribute. The cap is scaled based on potential and class year. A freshman with high potential will have more room to grow than a junior with high potential, just like in real life. Physical Abilities: Once you set your player archetype, you will be able to determine what tier each physical ability is (None, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum). Each tier has a required attribute rating in order to qualify for it. The required attributes will be visible when you are selecting the tier and if the player doesn’t meet that requirement, you’ll get a prompt asking if you want to automatically adjust their rating to match the ability tier. Mental Abilities: Which mental abilities are available is determined by the player’s position. You will be able to choose from a dropdown which mental abilities they have (if any) and what tier each ability is (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum). Remember, mental abilities cannot be upgraded, so choose wisely. RIVALRIES Rivalries are a core piece of college football and now you have complete control of your Team Builder team’s rivalries. Within the Program tab, you can now create up to five rivalries for your Team Builder team. For each rivalry, fill out historical information: Rival team Rivalry name The first year it was played All-time series record Who won the last matchup The score of the last game This information will carry with you into Dynasty Mode. If you want to set up a Team Builder rivalry, simply set that team’s rival to an existing team, then replace that team with your Team Builder school. TOUGHEST PLACES TO PLAY The crowd. The noise. The overwhelmingly hostile atmosphere. See which teams you don't want to face on their home turf in our Top 25 Toughest Places to Play. Tiger Stadium | LSU Beaver Stadium | Penn State Ohio Stadium | Ohio State Sanford Stadium | Georgia Bryant-Denny Stadium | Alabama Memorial Stadium | Clemson Ben Hill Griffin Stadium | Florida Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium | Oklahoma Autzen Stadium | Oregon Michigan Stadium | Michigan Kyle Field | Texas A&M Neyland Stadium | Tennessee Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium | Texas Doak S. Campbell Stadium | Florida State Camp Randall Stadium | Wisconsin Williams-Brice Stadium | South Carolina Jordan-Hare Stadium | Auburn Husky Stadium | Washington Kinnick Stadium | Iowa Rice-Eccles Stadium | Utah Notre Dame Stadium | Notre Dame Carter-Finley Stadium | NC State Boone Pickens Stadium | Oklahoma State Spartan Stadium | Michigan State Davis Wade Stadium | Mississippi State POST-GAME SPEECH If you’ve made it this far — thank you. This blog isn’t just a feature list or a changelog. It’s a reflection of the care, passion, and purpose that this team brings to Dynasty mode every single day. We’re continuing to build on the foundation we laid last year, always with one goal at the center: “Satisfy the Core Community” because “This is THEIR Game”. That mindset has never wavered. The team has fully rallied behind it, and what we’ve built together in College Football 26 is something we’re incredibly proud of. But this is just Year Two of a multi-year journey and we’re incredibly excited about where we are going. To the community: don’t lose your passion and excitement. That energy is the fuel that drives us. Your support, your feedback, and your love for this game are the reason we’re here, and we never take that for granted. With that being said, we will see you again soon for the next deep dive on Road To Glory and Superstar! [Source] --- College Football 26 launches worldwide on July 10, 2025. Pre-order the Deluxe Edition** or the EA SPORTS™ MVP Bundle* and play 3 days early. Stay in the conversation by following us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and the EA Forums. *Conditions & restrictions apply. See ea.com/games/ea-sports-college-football/college-football-26/game-disclaimers for details. **Conditions & restrictions apply. See https://www.ea.com/games/madden-nfl/madden-nfl-26/game-disclaimers for details.College Football 26 - Title Update September 11th
Hey there College Football Fans, welcome back to the Campus Huddle! Your source for updates straight from the EA Sports College Football 26 development team! Today, we are back with another Title Update Campus Huddle that has plenty of changes for College Football 26! From Gameplay Tuning, Dynasty Changes, Audio additions, and more, we are going over everything you can expect to see tomorrow! We invited Eric Rayweather to check out this update early and give you a detailed breakdown of what you can expect in tomorrow's update! Gameplay Pass Blocking & Pass Rush Added option to set Base Protection by default. DEV NOTE: For players who don’t want built-in pass protections on passing plays, we have included a new Coaching Adjustment to allow players to elect Base Protection as the default protection for all dropback passing plays. When toggling this option, players will still have the ability to change their protection before the play via the Pass Protection adjustments menu. Corrected Blocking Protection UI from popping up in unintended scenarios. Fixed an issue causing unintentional offensive line slide when using the Untarget Defender mechanic. Fixed an issue allowing defenders to be slanted into the same gap in 4-man defensive fronts. Tuning to improve unnecessary target swapping/switching in empty pass protection. Updated slide protection visuals to reflect target changes during auto-motion plays. Tuning defensive tackle bull-rush behavior near the goal line to better react to scrambling QB’s. Tuning to reduce Illegal Man Downfield penalties caused by block steering and play-action bootleg plays. Tuning to reduce the pass set depth of the offensive tackle against Nickel Single Mug Right Exit 2-man stunts. Coverage Updated hook defender depth with underneath coverage adjustment to play at 5 yards. Updated hook defender depth with over-the-top coverage adjustment to play at 12-18 yards. Updated vertical hook zone so that it won’t match when using coaching adjustments or custom zone stems. Updated 3 Rec Hook match logic to better defend a swing route from the opposite side of the formation and behind the line of scrimmage. Updated press animation logic to ensure defenders match user-called press at the Line of Scrimmage. Updated Cover 9 logic to improve coverage by the 3 rec hook defender guarding the running back crossing the field. Catching Fixed an issue allowing receivers to hang on to too many passes instead of getting the ball knocked out in traffic. Tuning to reduce chances of contest mid-air hit from behind animation. Improved some situations where collisions with the WR at the snap would disrupt the time of the route. Playbook Content Added new Odd Ghost defensive formation (found in 3-3-5 & 3-2-6 playbooks). Corrected poor WR spacing and awkward motion animations across multiple formations. Fixed missing play action animations in specific plays. Resolved issues with Jet Reverse Pass being unthrowable when flipped. Removed duplicate plays and corrected button mappings. Addressed illegal formations caused by TE motion in various sets. Tuned Flexbone option play speed for consistency across handedness. Corrected RPO Peek Glance behavior to match intended logic. Fixed auto-motion receiver collisions with QB. Run Game Enabled QB juke moves for HB/WR in wildcat formations. Fixed an issue where QB speed burst was not working as intended. Tuned power shed frequency and improved edge leverage behavior on outside runs. Fixed an rare issue where the center's initial movement was incorrect at the snap. Fixed an issue where sometimes an inside zone handoff was using the outside zone handoff animation. Alignment & Formation Logic Resolved defensive front flipping and zone art crossing during hurry-up scenarios. Fixed an issue causing an OLB to stack behind the MLB when reacting to tight end motion. Fixed alignment of play art in Nickel Over Cover 3 Sky. Tuned DT alignment logic to prevent stacking in specific play combos. Updated AI defense logic to properly align over outside WRs in goal line sets. Fixed duplicate jersey numbers for offensive linemen on the field. Hot Routes & Audibles Updated logic so the offense cannot instantly flip the play or audible when walking to the line from the huddle. Tuning to better balance hot-route timing between elite and lower-rated QBs. DEV NOTE: Updated the delay for consistency between all QBs regardless of the animation they triggered. Some animations would take a longer time to finish and it would inhibit a user’s ability to quickly make adjustments. Now all QBs have the same time delay in between adjustments. Tuning to hot-route time delay time to make the timing in under-center formations more consistent with Gun and Pistol. Fixed an issue allowing the offense to rapidly hot route after pass-blocking the running back. Resized UI indicator for audibles to appropriate scale. Run Defense Tuned assignment flow consistency between RPO Alert Keys and Peek Logic. Added logic for Edges to “play the QB” on Boot Naked runs when in a contain assignment. Passing Resolved Freeform Passing Reticle snapping back to initial location. Signature Animations & Celebrations Addressed secure catch animations being interrupted by touchdown post-play. Corrected getup animations for user-controlled players post-throw. Tuned hand alignment in celebration animations. Fixed QB hitching during post-play animations. AI Logic & Coaching Adjustments Tuned AI defensive playcalling to avoid prevent in 2-minute drill. Updated AI logic to avoid goal line defense vs 4 WR sets. Added Safety Coaching Adjustment Depth Option (16 Yards). Corrected spelling of “Wide Receiver” in the substitution screen. Special Teams Improved lead blocker decision-making on kick returns. Adjusted kick returner alignment to ensure reachability on onside kicks. Dynasty Fixed an issue where complimentary and competitive visits would not show properly in offseason recruiting. Fixed an issue where the Encourage Transfers spreadsheet was auto sorting by speed. Fixed an issue in Encourage Transfers where the roster size counter would display incorrectly after viewing a player card. Fixed an issue where players were not earning enough XP when manual progression was set to on. Fixed an issue where offseason visits were not giving enough influence. Fixed an issue in Training Results where two users in an Online Dynasty couldn’t manually progress players at the same time. Fixed an issue where playing style stats were not calculating correctly for some positions. Fixed an issue where the Team Needs module was double counting signed players at each position. Improved Logic around Playing Time Dealbreakers when other players at a position enter the Pro Draft. Fixed an issue that caused incorrect Playing Time Grades to display for the school that a player left in the Transfer Portal due to Playing Time. Fixed an issue where career records broken included stats earned at a different school. Fixed an issue that caused Scheduled Visits in the Offseason to process a week later than they should. Fixed an issue where you could see Dealbreakers of players on another user’s team in Online Dynasty. Increased the size of a player’s season health pool at the start of the next season. Note: The size of the season health pool is still determined based on how full it is at the end of the season. This change makes the size more forgiving if a player uses most of their current year health. Fixed an exploit allowing you to have multiple visits with the same recruit. Fixed an issue where Defensive Tackle did not appear in the Wear and Tear auto subs menu. Fixed an issue where the Trophy Room team banner would not properly update to the current school. Fixed an issue where completions showed as 0 in the post game box score. Updated the Jim Thorpe award to be Paycom Jim Thorpe Award. Fixed an issue where you could not uncheck ready to advance in an Online Dynasty. Weekly Summary will now show when a player is visiting in the current week. Updated SMU field to grass. Road To Glory Fixed an issue where the user player would be randomly subbed out of the game due to fatigue. Added a new NIL deal with Chipotle. Fixed an issue where sacks were not giving negative tape scores during Highlight Moments. Added a confirmation popup when quitting a high school moment. Disabled illegal touching penalty in RTG High School gameplay. Ultimate Team Field Pass, Progression & Rewards Fixed an issue where the user bar could disappear when navigating objectives. Addressed hangs on the Field Pass screen that could last up to a minute. Progress & Rewards button callouts are now functional and correctly aligned. Level text and Instant Rewards text are now centered on the Field Pass screen. The Orientation Field Pass level-up screen now displays the correct artwork. Lineups & Team Management Corrected multiple issues causing off-center text and spacing problems in Manage Lineup screens. Player names no longer cut off after backing out of upgrade screens. Substitution screens now display the correct OVR values for players in secondary positions. Eligible player lists no longer disappear when swapping depth chart players. Chemistry highlights and strategy boosts now display correctly, with improved readability at 4K resolution. Fixed an exploit where punters and kickers displayed inflated OVR values when placed at QB. Store & Packs Restored the “Open Next Pack” option to speed up pack opening. Packs included inside other rewards now display properly in the flow. Pack highlight visuals have been corrected in the unopened packs screen. MUT logo no longer flashes when backing out and re-entering Challenges. Challenges, Events & H2H Ranked results now display correctly in the Progress & Rewards screen. Unranked players are no longer incorrectly shown with Bronze 1 & 2 ranks. Event Requirements now update correctly after lineup swaps or exceeding limits. Removing a player while Event Requirements are active no longer causes UI issues. Fixed a duplication bug where “Find this Item” appeared twice in Solo Seasons. UI & Visual Presentation Corrected alignment issues across Auction Details, Catalog, Reward screens, and Compare views. Chemistry symbols no longer appear incorrectly on playbooks or visuals cards. Updated visuals for the App State and Cincinnati playbooks. Fixed overlapping highlights and bright boxes on reward screens. Gamertag, EA Connect, EA Music, and game logo now remain visible after entering Rewards & Progress. Crashes & Disconnects Fixed an issue on the Buy Points screen that occurred when pressing invalid inputs. Miscellaneous Fixes Fixed an issue that blocked completion of the Ultimate Team onboarding flow for new players. Message prompting players to check the Upgrade tab will no longer appear when no ability slots are available. Solo Seasons matches now track correctly instead of overwriting previous week results. Chemistry costs in Round 2 no longer overlap with stats. Visual overlaps corrected when upgrading high-OVR players. Event Requirements now properly validate minimum OVR checks for out-of-position players. Road to the College Football Playoffs Rank Point System Updates We’re making some important changes to the Rank Point system in Road to the College Football Playoffs to improve competition and ensure a more fair playoff experience for everyone. What’s Changing? Increased Rank Point Gains: Players will now earn more Rank Points overall, especially in the lower ranges of each division. Adjusted Starting Ranks: To balance the increased point gains, the starting rank for all divisions (except All-American and Heisman) will be lower. This prevents scenarios where players could reach the playoffs with a losing record in lower divisions. Division Rank Adjustments: If you’re currently in one of the affected divisions, your rank may be moved down to reflect the new starting points until you begin your next season. Improved Playoff Qualification: These changes ensure that strong performance is rewarded, especially in higher divisions. Previously, playing mostly Tier 1 matchups could make it difficult to reach the playoffs even with a great record. Win Modifiers Matter More: The base Rank Points for a win are increased, making modifiers like Away wins or victories as a lower tier team even more valuable. No Change to Win Requirements: The number of wins needed to move up or stay in a division remains the same. More Time to Compete: Based on player feedback, we are making all RTCFP games 4 minutes a quarter vs 3 minutes so that you have enough time to overcome Home Field Advantage. Why Are We Making These Changes? Our goal is to make playoff qualification more competitive and rewarding, while ensuring that every win counts—especially in tougher matchups. These updates will help create a more balanced and exciting Road to the College Football Playoffs experience. Presentation Equipment New Equipment Pieces: 6 New Axiom Masks Adidas Ultra Boost Mono Cleats Adidas Adizero Electric 2 Exotic Speed Cleats New Uniforms & Uniform Pieces: Air Force Space Force Alternate Uniform Central Michigan University Sleeve Numbers East Carolina University Purple Fleck Helmet Florida International University Vice City 2023 Uniform Fresno State Camouflage Helmet Fresno State White USA Helmet Mississippi State 2023 Throwback Uniform Mississippi State Black Alternate Uniform Mississippi State White Interlocking Helmet Old Dominion University Blue Helmet Oregon State Camouflage Uniform Sam Houston State Home Jersey San Diego State University New Home and Away Uniform University of Alabama at Birmingham New Home and Away Uniform University of California Paw Print Helmets University of Kansas Blue Alternate Uniform University of Kansas White Alternate Uniform University of Louisiana at Monroe Black Alternate Helmet University of Nebraska Black Uniforms University of Nebraska Blackshirts (2020) Uniform University of New Mexico New Home and Away Uniform University of New Mexico Red Lobo Script Helmet University of New Mexico Turquoise Alternate Uniform University of New Mexico White Lobo Script Helmet University of Virginia Stars and Stripes Helmet University of Washington 2022 White and Gold Set University of Washington Throwback Uniform Western Michigan Bumpers Names now appear on the New Mexico State University Crimson, Black, and White Jerseys Audio We hope you’ve enjoyed the Pop Song Covers that were part of our original launch. The reaction to those has been so exciting to see, and we thank you for your feedback around them. We’re pleased to share that we are adding 10 more Pop Song Covers to our menus for this title update. Starting tomorrow, you will be able to enjoy those songs in our College Football 26 Official Soundtrack! Those songs include; “Money Trees” “Misery Business” “Get Lucky” “Closer” “What You Know” “Million Dollar Baby” “No Hands” “Espresso” “Apple” “1-2 Many” New Commentary Intros for 56 Rivalry Games, 15 Stadium Light Shows, and 10 Anticipated Matchups for the new 2025 CFB Season. Including; Ohio State and Michigan Army and Navy Florida and Georgia Oregon and Washington Kansas and Kansas State Boise State and Fresno State Oklahoma and Oklahoma State Georgia and Texas Oregon and Penn State Texas A&M and Notre Dame …and many more! We look forward to hearing from you about these changes in the Title Update! Thank you all so much for your feedback and dedication to College Football 26. – The Entire College Football 26 Development Team [Source]College Football 26 - Title Update July 24th
Hey there College Football Fans, welcome back to the Campus Huddle! Your source for all information and updates straight from the EA Sports College Football 26 development team! Today, we are kicking off the season with our first Title Update Campus Huddle! Our goal this year is to give you a full breakdown of each Title Update a day before it launches. But this time, we’re getting a head start — you're getting the full Title Update notes two days early! Before we get started, the team here at College Football 26 wanted to say a big thank you to all of you for the incredible support, and feedback from this year's launch! Now, let's get started with the details of this Title Update! Gameplay Fixed an issue where play art remained visible after the snap when using Home Field Advantage (HFA). Fixed a rare issue causing a player to freeze in place during hit stick attempts. Fixed an issue preventing stunts and twists from activating properly when selecting from the play-call menu in online games. Fixed an issue sometimes preventing a catch animation from playing when clicking on and taking control of a WR during the route. Variety of tuning and animation improvements to physics based tackling Variety of game stability improvements. Fixed an issue causing blockers on Power O plays to sometimes take their initial movement in the wrong direction. Dynasty Reduced the chance of rain in Dynasty and Road to Glory games. Fixed an issue where cold weather and snow could occur in warm weather climates during College Football Playoff games. Fixed an issue where starters who were Juniors could decide to transfer due to Playing Time. Fixed an issue where only the IBL column was showing for fullbacks in Redshirt players spreadsheet. Fixed an issue preventing players from entering free practice. Fixed an issue where the game could freeze during overtime when playing the moments. These updates were added last week to Online Dynasty files, this update now brings them to Offline Dynasty files: Position Changes You can now change a player's position within their current position group without penalty to their skill caps. You’ll be free to swap positions within these groupings: Running Back (FB, RB) Offensive Line (LT, LG, C, RG, RT) Defensive Line (LEDG, REDG, DT) Linebacker (SAM, MIKE, WILL) Defensive Back (CB, FS, SS) Specialist (K, P) Athlete (ATH) Recruits can now set their initial position without impact to their skill group caps. A player’s new skill caps are now more strongly influenced by their Development Trait and school year. Younger players and those with higher Development Traits will have higher skill caps at their new position. Addressed a Coach Point exploit when retiring and then creating a new coach character. Reduced the impact of the Reach Your Potential ability (Motivator Tier 1) for better coach ability and recruiting balance. Note: This affects the influence given to recruits when a player at their position hits a skill group cap. Road To Glory Fixed an issue where the pre-order bonus would be applied at the start of your second season after redshirting Ultimate Team Campaigns: Leaderboard Campaigns are new, limited-time competitions tied to specific programs that will place you on a leaderboard with a small group of players, making every game impactful. These will be available right from the Ultimate Team main menu, and whether you prefer Head-to-Head or Solo play, your performance on key objectives like points scored or wins determines your leaderboard placement. These will vary with each program that campaigns are associated with and what you earn will vary depending on the tier that you unlock. Event Lineup Building challenges: We are introducing new types of events that will challenge players to build their best team within a set of team requirements, in order to enter program specific events. As well as an easier way for users to alter their lineups to meet these requirements. E.G - Build your strongest ALL-SEC team and take on other players in the H2H Conference Clash Event. Head to the Event screen to find information on currently active Live Events. From here, you can build your best available lineup for this event with a few button presses. Directly from the Lineup screen, you will be able to browse which events are currently available and get information as to each event’s requirements. If your lineup meets the requirements, you’re good to go. If you have holes in your roster, it will be identified for you and you will be given paths to acquire the missing pieces. We have updated the progress & rewards screens for players so that they are now easier to understand. Presentation Made an adjustment to the First Down Rousers at Michigan. Fixed an issue allowing an opposing player to participate in the Gator chomp on-field celebration. Fixed an issue so that Nebraska’s ‘Throw Bones’ celebration is used only on defense. Fixed an issue where Missouri State and Delaware’s Bowl and Playoff End Zones had a generic coloring to them. Fixed an issue where the Texas State cannon touchdown celebration was in the wrong location. Fixed an issue where camera obstructions would occur during certain scenes. Thank you all so much for your continued support and dedication to College Football 26. We will see you on the next Campus Huddle! Be sure to tune in to the CFBRundown on Twitch and follow us on @CFBDirect and @EASports_CUT for more updates and information. — The Entire College Football 26 Development Team [Source]
